Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has backed Federal Family Minister Anne Spiegel (Greens), who was faced with calls for her resignation.

"As far as cooperation in the government is concerned, the Chancellor appreciates the minister and works closely and trustingly with her," said Deputy Government Spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann on Monday in Berlin.

Spiegel's appearance in front of the press on Sunday evening had Scholz "personally moved and affected".

Spiegel is under pressure because she, as environment minister for Rhineland-Palatinate at the time, went on a four-week family vacation to France ten days after the flood disaster on the Ahr.

On Sunday evening she explained the background, visibly moved and close to tears.

She mentioned her extensive professional commitments, her husband's health problems and the burdens on the family with four small children due to the corona pandemic.

She also admitted that, contrary to what was originally announced, she had not joined the cabinet meetings during the holidays, but that her state secretary had taken over.

Scholz "of course saw the short-term statement," said Hofmann.

In his opinion, it was “a very impressive performance in human terms”.

Hoffmann did not comment on the question of whether Scholz was informed of the content before Spiegel's press statement.

Wüst: credibility test for SPD and Greens

The North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) sees the dispute over the holiday as a credibility test for the SPD and the Greens.

"SPD and Greens have risen morally very high here in North Rhine-Westphalia in the last week and judged Ursula Heinen-Esser," he said on Monday in Wuppertal.

"They now have to clarify whether these claims apply independently of the party book or were only due to the election campaign."

Heinen-Esser (CDU) resigned from her position on Thursday after it became known that she had celebrated her husband's birthday with other members of the government in Mallorca a few days after the flood disaster in July 2021.

In the flood disaster in mid-July 2021, more than 180 people died in Rhineland-Palatinate and NRW, 134 of them in the Ahr Valley.

Hundreds more were injured, and thousands of homes and significant infrastructure were destroyed.

Many people still live in emergency or alternative quarters.

Wüst himself did not ask Spiegel to resign.

He said he would not comment further on the case.

In general, however, it must be possible "that people with a family, even with small children, can also do politics," affirmed the father of a small daughter.

“I think we are all well-advised not to put too much strain on this tension between family and politics.” Sometimes, however, decisions have to be made that are stressful for the family.

The Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs and Queer Commissioner of the Federal Government, Sven Lehmann (Greens), made a similar statement: "The example of #AnneSpiegel is also used to negotiate how humane politics can be," he wrote on Twitter.

“Politicians are people.

People can make mistakes or, in hard deliberations, make decisions that they later regret.

If you don't want machines in politics, you get people."

Mayer: Spiegel told the untruth

CSU General Secretary Stephan Mayer, on the other hand, repeated his call for resignation after Spiegel's apology.

"I think, even if you saw Ms. Spiegel yesterday, I don't think she's doing herself any favors if she continues to insist on staying in office," Mayer said on Deutschlandfunk on Monday.

"The question is whether she can now exercise her office as Federal Minister for Family Affairs in the way that is necessary in view of the current challenges."

Mayer said that in the end this was also a question that directly affected Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).

The question is whether he has a fully functional and strong cabinet in every situation.

He has "personal understanding" for the "private situation" of the minister, said the CSU general secretary.

He called it commendable that she acknowledged mistakes and apologized.

“The only question that arises is why she obviously told an untruth when she claimed that she had attended the cabinet meetings in Rhineland-Palatinate during her vacation.

From my point of view, this cannot be explained.”

The designated FDP Secretary General, Bijan Djir-Sarai, was cautious.

"Others now have to evaluate what possible conclusions should come from it," he said RTL / ntv.

The Greens would have to judge whether Spiegel was up to their job.

The FDP politician also referred to North Rhine-Westphalia, where the CDU politician Ursula Heinen-Esser had resigned as state environment minister because of a vacation trip immediately after the flood disaster - also under pressure from the Greens, as he noted.

The Trier political scientist Uwe Jun told the dpa: "She always only reacts to others, to what comes out, what gets out.

If things go on like this, then in the end she won't be able to hold on any longer.” At the moment, more and more information is penetrating “bit by bit” that makes Spiegel's behavior appear “anything but desirable” for a minister.

First of all, it was about their behavior on the night of the disaster from July 14th to 15th, 2021.

And now about her four-week vacation in France, ten days after the flood.

It is now up to her to explain herself comprehensively and to see whether there is still any undesirable behavior.