Published
German Family Minister Anne Spiegel was widely criticized for leaving on a trip following the devastating floods last July hit her region.
After an apology on Sunday, the 41-year-old environmentalist resigned the next day.
AFP
Anne Spiegel throws in the towel. The 41-year-old environmentalist, Minister of Families, explained in a statement on Monday “to make his post available because of political pressure” aimed at her. Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz “took note with great respect” of his minister’s decision, said his spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann.
Then Minister of the Environment of the Land Rhineland-Palatinate, Spiegel had left for a month on vacation in France with her husband and four children. A journey made ten days following the deadly floods of mid-July 2021 that had hit his region. This decision had aroused the incomprehension and anger of many victims.
Already a departure
The floods, which also affected the neighboring Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, caused more than 180 deaths in total and significant material damage. The opposition, mainly the Conservatives, had been calling for his departure for several weeks.
The noose had tightened further following the resignation last week of the regional Minister of the Environment of North Rhine-Westphalia Ursula Heinen-Esser. He was accused of having also taken a vacation, in Majorca, during this period. On Sunday evening, Spiegel admitted, in an unusually emotional statement, to having made “a mistake” and apologized.
Her family then had an “urgent” need to take a vacation, she justified on the verge of tears, referring to her heavy workload combined with serious health problems for her husband. Not to mention the stress caused by the pandemic on his children and his family life.
The minister added that she was always reachable during her holidays, which she had interrupted for a one-day visit to the devastated Ahr valley. But she also admitted not having taken part in a meeting of the regional government during this period, contrary to her previous statements.
The Greens will now have to quickly offer a replacement. This case falls badly for the party before regional elections scheduled for May in Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia. In Saarland, the Greens had already narrowly failed at the end of March to reach the 5% mark necessary to be represented in the regional parliament.
(AFP)
