How he rose to prominence in German politics
Contrary to expectations, a non-woman will be appointed to replace Christine Lambrecht, who resigned as German defense minister. The choice fell on the representative of the Social Democratic Party, 62-year-old Boris Pistorius, who, if approved, will lead the German military department.
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Photo: Global Look Press
Christine Lambrecht, who led Germany's defense ministry until Monday, left her post after a wave of sharp criticism of her, including from her government coalition partners. The final straw was a New Year's video where, against the background of festive fireworks, the head of the German Ministry of Defense mentioned the situation in Ukraine and in this context added that she had received “a lot of special impressions” and attended many meetings. with interesting people.
If Boris Pistorius's Lambrecht appointment is confirmed instead, it could lead to a reshuffle of the German government, as Chancellor Scholz has promised to fill his cabinet with an equal number of men and women.
This figure, named in the press as Germany's future defense minister, is a member of Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party and enjoys a reputation as a veteran of German politics. He is seen as a pragmatic, practical politician who gets things done. At the same time, he has never held a leading position at the federal level. Boris Pistorius was previously the mayor of Osnabrück and then headed the Ministry of the Interior of Lower Saxony (since 2013). And even earlier, in the early 1980s, he served in the Bundeswehr as part of compulsory military service.
As a member of the Bundesrat, he was also a member of the German-Russian Friendship Group created in cooperation with the Federation Council of the Russian Federation.
In the SPD leadership elections in 2019, Pistorius was a candidate for the position of co-president of the party together with Petra Koepping.< /p>
The change in the leadership of Germany's defense ministry comes amid growing pressure on Berlin to increase military aid to Ukraine. It is expected that before the meeting of the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine at the US airbase in Ramstein, the German government may decide on the delivery of Leopard tanks to Kiev.
Last summer, Pistorius supported Canada's decision to arrest and seize the assets of Russian oligarchs. The German politician offered to transfer the confiscated funds to Ukraine as humanitarian aid. In addition, Boris Pistoriks repeatedly defended Chancellor Scholz, who was criticized for a number of Berdin's actions in connection with the Ukrainian conflict.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine and the effects of climate change, Boris Pistorius, as part of a special conference of interior ministers (IMK) in Brussels, advocated a package of measures worth 10 billion euros to expand civil defense and protect the population. . Also on the initiative of Pistorius, the government of Lower Saxony initiated a special package of measures to protect the population and eliminate the consequences of natural disasters in the amount of 40 million euros. This amount will be in addition to the almost 18 million euros that are allocated annually to combat natural disasters.
During the migration crisis in 2015, Boris Pistorius, as head of the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior, together with actor Tile Schweiger, visited the reception center for Osnabrück refugees. After the visit, Schweiger promised to support migrant shelters. And in 2016, Pistorius facilitated searches of the apartments of Salafist figures in Lower Saxony who were suspected of promoting hatred of “infidels” among moderate Muslims.
In 2021, Boris Pistorius demanded that Germany order the removal of the app stores the program for Telegram messaging if it continues to ignore requests for help monitoring extremist content.
Pistorius has two daughters with his wife Sabina, who died of cancer in 2015. Since 2016, he has been in a relationship with Doris Schroeder-Kepf, ex-wife of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (she is a member of the Landtag (Land Parliament) in Hanover).