Olaf Scholz names Boris Pistorius new German defense minister | DW News
Olaf Scholz names Boris Pistorius new German defense minister | DW News
Social Democrat interior minister of the state of Lower Saxony Boris Pistorius is to serve as Germany’s next defense minister, several German news outlets reported Tuesday.
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht resigned Monday after her government came under rising pressure to allow allies to send German-made heavy tanks to Ukraine, at the start of what is likely to be a pivotal week for Western plans to further arm Ukraine.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has chosen a man who is rather unknown abroad: Boris Pistorius has been the interior minister of Lower Saxony for nine years. He is popular there and is seen as someone who gets things done.
Since 2013, Pistorius has been dealing with internal security, cybercrime, migration, and sports in the SPD-led state government in Lower Saxony. So the 62-year-old lawyer has experience running a ministry, and he brings with him another prerequisite that will certainly be in demand in the coming years: Boris Pistorius is regarded as assertive and a go-getter. Pistorius joined the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) at age 16, he later completed his military service in 1980/81 but has no experience in the military field. However, he does have experience in dealing with the police force and its restructuring to bring in young officers and reach out to the citizens. Pistorius sees the security apparatus as an important pillar of democracy. This is reflected in his project to make the police sustainably strong against political extremism. When party SPD leader Saskia Esken spoke of “latent racism” in the ranks of the security forces in the summer of 2020, he opposed her. With her remarks she was exposing the 300,000 police officers in Germany to “unjustified general suspicion,” he said.
Big challenges await Pistorius
Chancellor Scholz pledged €100 billion to the German armed forces following the Russian attack on Ukraine. At least 20 billion euros would be needed for the procurement of ammunition alone. New frigates, tanks or F-35 combat aircraft also cost billions, plus investments in infrastructure and digitization. An acceleration of procurement procedures is needed.
But former Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht made headlines as recently as December when she put the purchase of Puma infantry fighting vehicles on hold. During a firing exercise, all 18 infantry fighting vehicles used in the exercise failed. In retrospect, this may have been a bit hasty. It has since emerged that most of the Puma’s problems were minor, and 17 of them were swiftly repaired. The chancellor will expect Lambrecht’s successor to get the Bundeswehr on track as far as possible and, beyond that, implement administratively what is decided in the chancellor’s office – such as the initiative for German and European missile defense with the Israeli Arrow-3 system. The discussion on whether or not to supply battle tanks to Ukraine is no different. The chancellor is putting on the brakes and does not want to be driven. All decisions will be made exclusively in coordination “with our friends and allies,” he says again and again, and most recently last Friday at a press conference in the Chancellor’s Office.
Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/user/deutschewelleenglish?sub_confirmation=1
For more news go to: http://www.dw.com/en/
Follow DW on social media:
â–ºFacebook: https://ift.tt/wqXvUTm
â–ºTwitter: https://twitter.com/dwnews
â–ºInstagram: https://ift.tt/qLd2OH8
â–ºTwitch: https://ift.tt/90bUi7K
Für Videos in deutscher Sprache besuchen Sie: https://www.youtube.com/dwdeutsch
Responses