A German Cabinet minister resigned Monday after it emerged that she went on a long vacation shortly after devastating floods which left over 100 people dead last year in the state where she was then a senior official.
Anne Spiegel quit her post as minister for families and women, citing “political pressure” as she became the first member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government to step down.
An emotional apology on Sunday had failed to stem calls for her to go.
She said it had been a “mistake” for her to go, speaking during a press conference in Berlin.
Spiegel joined Scholz’s Cabinet in December.
Before that, she was the environment minister and deputy governor of Rhineland-Palatinate state.
That was the region worst hit by floods in July that nationwide killed more than 180 people—134 of them in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Ahr valley.
Regional officials have faced questions over their handling of the floods.
