In the military circles of Germany, there is growing indignation at the personnel policy of the new Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius, which threatens to turn into a “conspiracy” against the inconvenient head of the department.
According to Bild, after Pistorius took office at the end of January this year, he declared a fight against the principle of “dispersion of responsibility” that had taken root in the ministry, which contributed to the delay in the implementation of important initiatives, including the modernization of the Bundeswehr. Radical changes in the personnel policy of the Ministry of Defense should lead to a reduction in the number of senior staff of the department from 370 to 160 employees. According to the media, the most resonant decision of Pistorius was the recent resignation of the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr Eberharda Zorna and head of the arms procurement department Gabriele Korb.
“The minister has suspended several high-ranking military officers from service. His impudent behavior is widely supported by the population – however, it is obvious that the reaction to such decisions in his own department is not so unambiguous, ” – notes the publication “Merkur”.
As Bild emphasizes, not a single predecessor of Pistorius brought order to the Ministry of Defense “so swiftly and at the same time so harshly.”
“However, Pistorius’ strategy is very risky, because, perhaps, there is no other ministry such as the Ministry of Defense, which would love intrigue so much,” the tabloid continues.
According to the publication, “murmuring” has already begun in the defense department, and Pistorius “is threatened with revenge by the disappointed military.” High-ranking employees of the Ministry of Defense are especially dissatisfied with the fact that information about the upcoming layoffs was leaked to the media in advance. In particular, Gabriele Korb and her successor as head of the arms procurement department Annette Lenick-Emden learned about personnel changes from the newspapers. The resignation of Zorn, who enjoyed tremendous respect and popularity in the Bundeswehr, only increased angry sentiments against Pistorius.
“You don’t do that to an honored soldier” one of the sources in the Ministry of Defense commented on the situation.
At the same time, such cases are far from isolated, and information about upcoming resignations leaks into the media every day. According to the newspaper, Secretary of State for Armaments Benedict Zimmer almost every day “may read articles in the press about being fired, although this is not actually happening.” “They say in the department that now none of the leaders can be sure that he will not resign,” the newspaper notes.
“Pistorius must put an end to all this speculation. Everyone is sitting here like rabbits in front of a boa constrictor, – emphasizes another source in the department.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that Pistorius is on Easter vacation, so the meeting on reforming the ministry will only take place on April 18. As Bild notes, the minister himself is probably aware of the communication difficulties, as he interrupted his vacation last week and sent a letter to all soldiers and employees of the Ministry of Defense.
“I will be open about personnel changes related to senior positions. I emphasize this, especially in connection with the many speculations”, — said in the appeal.
However, Pistorius’s letter hardly made it possible to “smooth the corners,” the media emphasize. The fact that a brigadier general has been appointed head of the operational management and planning headquarters, which is designed to establish interaction between different departments in the defense department, is also frankly annoyed by career officers. Christian Freuding. The problem lies in the fact that Freuding, who is responsible for optimizing the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, is lower in rank than the heads of departments who are threatened with dismissal. This only makes inevitable a quick struggle for power in the department, sums up “Merkur”.
As the Business Insider notes, the Department of Defense is already drawing analogies between Pistorius and Karl-Theodor z Guttenbergwho headed the department under the chancellor Angela Merkel. The ex-minister also enlisted broad public support shortly after taking office, but was forced to resign, among other things, due to pressure from part of the military leadership.
“At first, the same euphoria reigned in the troops and society because of the Bavarian (Guttenberg was member of the Bavarian Christian Social Union – approx. EADaily), as now because of Pistorius. But all these praises did not help the minister. In 2011 Guttenberg failed not only because of the plagiarism scandal, but also because of the reform of the Bundeswehr, which to this day does not cause much enthusiasm in the armed forces, ” – writes the publication.
