Vendeline von Bredow

speaker

125 appearances 2 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 29 Jul

Vendeline von Bredow’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 2.

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Economist Podcasts · Brave New whirl: Turkey’s opposition overhaul · 29 Jul 2026 podcast

He's always very close to the bottom of these popularity rankings.

And there's been a series of mini scandals that he's been involved in.

I mean, in 2020, he got a loan for a villa in Dahlem, which is a very posh part of Berlin, a four million euro loan from a bank where he had served on the supervisory board.

And then during the pandemic, when he was health minister, he had awarded a contract for overpriced face masks to a firm employing his husband.

And of course, the health ministry says that there's been no preferential treatment, but the optics is not good.

And then many in Germany really don't like his marker connections.

So Jens Spahn is friendly with Richard Grenell, who was a former American ambassador here in Berlin, and Peter Thiel, who is a controversial hard-right tech mogul.

So all this, this whole package, made Spahn a disliked and unpopular figure even before this latest episode happened.

Well, initially, I think he was intending to hold on to Jens Spahn in his job, but then he realized the extent of the public outcry and the outrage.

And so he then asked him to resign.

So this was not something Jens Spahn had offered to do, but he was made to go.

Spahn was actually a one-time rival of Merz.

He ran against Merz for the leadership of the CDU, the Christian Democratic Union.

But he was useful to Merz as a very effective negotiator in the coalition talks at the beginning of the Merz government and also more recently in the talks about a big reform package, which was passed on the 1st of July.

So he was useful for the chancellor, but they were never buddies.

So today on July 29th, lawmakers from the coalition parties, so the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union, are interrupting their holiday to vote in person on Mr. Spahn's successor in Berlin.

And it is Thorsten Frei, the head of the federal chancellor, who will be his replacement.

But actually, Merz also took this whole episode as a reason for not a big cabinet reshuffle, but a small one.

And he also, over the weekend, decided to fire his transport minister.

who is very unpopular.

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