Separate yourself from this minister as soon as possible,” Friedrich Merz said to Olaf Scholz in the Bundestag in May 2022.

The Chancellor will have to do that in the coming weeks or months anyway.

"So do it soon," said the CDU chairman and opposition leader at the time.

But Scholz didn't want to.

After all, he had chosen Secretary of Defense Christine Lambrecht for this office.

To the last he praised her in the highest tones.

Her dismissal would have shown that Scholz was wrong.

In the course of the past week, however, the chancellor had to do what he wanted to avoid.

However, the events surrounding Lambrecht's resignation were such a bumpy ride that even people around him who were willing to provide information were tight-lipped.

What happened?

On the Friday before last there were the first reports that Lambrecht wanted to give up her position.

They weren't denied, which meant they were true.

Nevertheless, there was no word on the weekend, neither from Lambrecht himself nor from Scholz.

Everything that leaked out made things even more bizarre.

After her embarrassing New Year's Eve video, Lambrecht had asked the chancellor himself to be dismissed.

That should have been on January 3rd.

But Scholz didn't want the dismissal right away.

In the course of the excitement about her inappropriate words in front of rockets and firecrackers, he did not want to give up his minister.

So he agreed with her to postpone the resignation by two weeks.

Perhaps he was thinking about how the SPD leadership kept the agreement on Scholz the chancellor candidate secret for four weeks in the summer of 2020.

But now the postponement was a risky game.

It went wrong after ten days.

He wants to appear as master of the situation

Why is the chancellor doing this?

It is important to Scholz that he does not appear to be driven, not by the media, the opposition, the public.

That's how it was before Russia's war against Ukraine, when he didn't want to use the term Nord Stream.

It was so after the war began, when for a long time he refused to go to Kyiv.

That's how it was when he escalated the dispute between the FDP and the Greens over the lifetime of the last nuclear power plants.

And that's how it was and still is when it comes to heavy main battle tanks called Leopard for Ukraine.

Scholz is cautious, hesitant, in his monosyllabic he seems arrogant.

Perhaps he is at peace with himself like Buddha.

Above all, he always wants to appear as master of the situation, who sets the pace himself.

This time, however, the situation was difficult.

Actually, a woman should have been in the Ministry of Defense because of gender parity.

But it quickly became clear in the chancellor's circle with the SPD party and parliamentary group leaders that a woman could not be found.

However, Scholz got involved in the matter two and a half years ago when he promised – unnecessarily – that at least half of the cabinet he led would be made up of women.

Now he had to break that promise.

The search for a male successor was also unsuccessful because possible candidates should not or would not.

Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt, Scholz's closest confidant, was just as indispensable as SPD leader Lars Klingbeil.

And Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil may be well versed in economic and social policy, but he is not assertive or conflict-loving.

Two weeks passed after January 3rd until Scholz called Boris Pistorius from Lower Saxony on Monday.

He immediately agreed, and Lambrecht was finally able to resign.

A day's break was added before the successor was announced, allegedly out of respect for the outgoing minister.

The fact that Scholz did not appear in the Chancellery with Pistorius the next day, but only said friendly words about the new minister on a business trip to Brandenburg, did not seem very respectful.

However, it was in keeping with the desired impression that the chancellor was working through his calendar and not being impressed by the excitement of the media.

Scholz would say that all of this is a topic for journalists and political junkies that ordinary citizens are not interested in.

Certainly it is more important that someone who is trusted to do the job takes on the post of Secretary of Defense.

According to the first impression, that could be the case with Boris Pistorius.

With this personality, Scholz blurred the chaotic impression of the days before.

But the Lambrecht case in particular shows that mistakes, which are not least due to attitude, style and communication, can be fatal.

After all, no one wants politicians to be ashamed of.