Germany's Defense Minister to Resign Soon

Germany's Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht intends to resign, the Bild newspaper reported on Friday.

The news comes on a much-criticized New Year's Eve message she posted on social media. During the message, Lambrecht mentions the war in Ukraine with fireworks still playing in the background.

Members of the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) criticized the letter as tone-deaf and urged her to step down.

Lambrecht belongs to Chancellor Olaf cholz's center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Scholz said he still had faith in Lambrecht after the highly criticized video.

Lambrecht also came under fire in May after it was reported that she had allowed her 21-year-old son to fly in a Bundeswehr helicopter to the famous northern German island of Sylt.

As defense minister, she has also been at the forefront of many ongoing controversies and criticisms in 2022 regarding the military equipment Germany is sending to Ukraine, and the difficulties the German military is facing at home.

If Friday's reports ultimately prove true, Lambrecht will be the most senior member of Scholz's cabinet to resign.

The two names being touted as potential successors are both the Social Democrats, such as Lambrecht - and the alternative would have to be maintaining a coalition balance between the three ruling parties, which includes the business-focused Free Democratic Party and environmentalist Greens.

Both work in roles related to Lambrecht. One is the parliamentary special commissioner for the German army, Eva Högel, and the other is Simtje Möller, a junior minister in Lambrecht's team.