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Germany’s defence minister resigns amid Ukraine criticism, ‘months of media focus on my person’
- Christine Lambrecht said that ‘months of media focus on my person’ stood in the way of a debate about the military and Germany’s security policy
- Critics have long portrayed her as out of her depth but Scholz stood by her, describing her last month as ‘a first-class defence minister’
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Germany’s much-criticised defence minister announced her resignation on Monday, as her department steers the massive project of modernising the country’s military and oversees expanding weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
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Christine Lambrecht said in a statement that she had submitted her resignation request to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, adding that “months of media focus on my person” had stood in the way of a factual debate about the military and Germany’s security policy.
“The valuable work of the soldiers and many people in my department must stand in the foreground,” she said.
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Scholz has accepted Lambrecht’s resignation and “accepts the decision”, a government spokesperson said on Monday, adding that he would soon propose a successor to Germany’s president.
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