After Bärbel Bas' resignation, Karl Lauterbach and the former Left leader Jan van Aken sharply criticized the Union's handling of the SPD politician. "Bärbel Bas was treated very unfairly. She didn't deserve that," said Lauterbach on the ARD program "Hart aber fair". CDU politician Nathanael Liminski firmly contradicted the allegations.
Van Aken said he initially didn't know about Bas' family situation. After reading her resignation statement, he asked himself: "What happened to this CDU? It used to be a Christian party with Christian values. But now I have this feeling that they no longer have any decency at all."
When Klamroth asked what attacks Schwesig could have meant by this, Lauterbach distinguished between several levels of criticism: “There were three types of attacks.” Firstly, she was accused in the background of working too slowly and not making progress with the pension plans. Secondly, prominent Union politicians publicly exerted pressure, even though the illness and later the death of their stepdaughter were known. Thirdly, there were attacks from the second row, for example from the chairman of the Junge Union, Johannes Winkel.
Liminski - he had initially expressed his condolences to Bas when he first spoke and expressed respect for her decision - immediately countered. He defended the expectation of receiving draft laws after the reform debates in the summer: “I think that is at least not insubordinate.” The ministry has 1,500 employees and three civil servants. “It is not impertinent to ask whether it would be possible to get a draft on a topic that affects society as a whole.”
Lauterbach countered: “We mustn’t play dumb.” After criticism of the planned abolition of the so-called pension at 63, it was still politically unclear whether this point would be included in the draft law. The SPD wanted to discuss this again in principle. In his view, it was not appropriate to urge Bas to fully implement the Commission's proposals.
Liminski explained that Bas's personal situation was not known to all CDU politicians. At the same time, he referred to the NRW SPD, which is seeking a committee of inquiry into a state government minister who has cancer (apparently he is referring to NRW Home Affairs and Construction Minister Ina Scharrenbach (CDU), editor). "I don't think that's super human either. So be careful with the crocodile tears." He warned against turning the bereavement into a party political issue. “There are such and such in every party.”
Lauterbach contradicted the claim that the politicians he criticized knew nothing about Bas’ situation. “But the people who were named all knew how difficult things were with Bärbel Bas.” He called for a discussion of how things are handled within the coalition: "I think it would be great if the Union were prepared to say that we may have made a mistake here. I think that would be honest and better." That would be more helpful than pretending nobody knew anything. “The citizens don’t believe that anyway.”
Bas justified her resignation on Monday with the death of her stepdaughter and the time needed to process her grief. At the same time, she complained that public attacks, including from the ranks of her coalition partner, had increased further during her personally difficult situation. She currently does not have the strength to fully carry out her government and party work.
