German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht came under fire on Monday for a video posted to her social media account that was deemed unmusical.
Lambrecht shared the video on Instagram, in which she performs on a street in Berlin during a chaotic New Year’s Eve celebration.
Her reflections on the “war raging in the middle of Europe” – a reference to the 10-month war in Ukraine – were described as insensitive against a backdrop of loud fireworks exploding behind her.
The German daily Der Tagesspiegel said the speech “didn’t strike the right note” but presented the war as an “exciting professional experience”.
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A member of parliament from the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) called for Lambrecht’s resignation after the video went viral on German-language social media and many people mocked the minister.
“The speech about the war with New Year’s Eve firecrackers in the background only crowns your series of embarrassments,” wrote CDU member of the Bundestag Serap Güler in a tweet addressed to Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“Who’s going to take us seriously anymore?” She added.
“I see no reason to evaluate that now,” said deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann.
The Chair of the Defense Committee of the Bundestag, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, distanced herself from the video, which was made privately and not with the Ministry’s funds: “The New Year’s video in question is the responsibility of the Minister and her communication staff. I myself find the setting a bit unfortunate.”
“I don’t want to say more about it,” she added.
ab/jcg (AFP, dpa)
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