In the Federal Ministry of Health there was a nutcracker for the new Minister Lauterbach.

Transport Minister Scheuer gave his successor a bicycle and helmet, while the new Economics Minister Habeck presented his predecessor with a bracelet made of fishing nets.

There were flowers everywhere, friendly words, best wishes, and sometimes even wet eyes.

Helene Bubrowski

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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Peter Carstens

Political correspondent in Berlin

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Only in three houses of the federal government was the peaceful transfer of power not celebrated in the presence of the outgoing and new ministers: Family Minister Anne Spiegel from the Greens and the new Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) took up their new offices without their predecessor being present. As the FAZ learned, the SPD politician Christine Lambrecht, who had headed both ministries in the past few months, did not take part in the celebrations on Thursday. Tradition was also violated in the Ministry of Defense: Lambrecht was also alone with her own inauguration with military honors.

In the family ministry, Lambrecht's resignation was perceived as lacking in style. The displeasure was clearly expressed. The chairwoman of the staff council of the Ministry of Family Affairs, in the presence of the new Minister Spiegel, complained about Lambrecht's absence. She doesn't care too much about old habits, said the chairwoman of the staff council, but added: “There are, however, traditions that we should absolutely stick to. This includes, for example, that the handover of office always requires two, the new minister and the outgoing minister. ”She regrets very much“ that Ms. Lambrecht did not find her way here ”. At the request of the FAZ, the ministry named "scheduling reasons" for Lambrecht's absence and pointed out that she had sent a video message to her successor and the workforce. On the 30thNovember there was a personal meeting between Spiegel and Lambrecht, the technical handover was carried out by the state secretaries.

Numerous confidante promotions

During the ceremony, the chairwoman of the staff council also recalled the numerous promotions of trusted employees that Lambrecht had achieved through the ministry.

She was only there for a short time, "at the same time she insisted on filling prominent positions here".

In the Ministry of Justice, Lambrecht was also accused of supplying trusted employees by taking them over to the civil service or promoting them.

In the Ministry of Family Affairs, which Lambrecht had only taken over in May, the promotion mainly concerned employees from the Ministry of Justice, who had returned to the Ministry of Justice after a very short posting and then promotion to the Ministry of Family Affairs.

Despite Lambrecht's absence when Spiegel took office, the photo presented on the ministry's website under the heading “Taking Office” gives the impression of a personal handover. The picture shows a common appearance of the two women, Lambrecht and Spiegel, which did not take place when they took office. As the ministry announced at the request of the FAZ, the picture was taken the day before in the Reichstag building.

The report about the change of office in the Ministry of Justice is similarly misleading.

The house published a picture of Lambrecht with the new Minister Buschmann on Twitter, along with a quote from the Minister: “I am delighted to be able to hand over the office of Federal Minister of Justice to Marco Buschmann.” Lambrecht was also present when Buschmann took office, which could be followed via livestream , not present.

As can be seen from the clothing, the picture was also taken the day before.

Lambrecht's absence is explained in the Ministry of Justice with the pandemic.

Lambrecht takes a robust approach

In the Ministry of Defense, Lambrecht's predecessor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) refrained from attending the ceremony. In the Bendlerblock there was resentment that the new minister's environment had been told that they had to vacate their offices by Thursday before long-term employees of the Defense Ministry, including State Secretary Gerd Hoofe, were appointed. Lambrecht had proceeded in a similarly robust manner in the Justice Ministry, which she had taken over from her party friend Katarina Barley in June 2019 in the current legislative period. Some employees had to leave immediately.

Meanwhile, Kramp-Karrenbauer said she had stayed away from her successor Lambrecht for reasons of the protocol. At the time of the reception with military honors, she was "no longer a minister". The minutes of the Ministry of Defense forbade Kramp-Karrenbauer to be present? This claim is surprising, because photos from the past forty years alone show that time and again outgoing ministers walk off the guard battalion with their successors when they take office.

Kramp-Karrenbauer herself had done the same with her predecessor Ursula von der Leyen. Which in turn with their predecessor Thomas de Maizière (all CDU). Always the same procedure, always the ministers present. So the argument remains an unfortunate statement by an altogether hapless departing minister. Kramp-Karrenbauer will be standing in the same place in front of the same staff music corps next Wednesday. Then, as a farewell, she gets her tattoo in the evening torchlight, as the protocol provides.

Kramp-Karrenbauer was allowed to wish for three pieces of music, one of which should be the film melody for the western "The Magnificent Seven".

This has already been interpreted as an allusion to their closest employees, some of whom have already lost their posts or will soon lose their positions since Lambrecht took office.