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Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (here during an appearance as presenter of the RTL Annual Review 2022)
Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd / dpa
According to the experience of former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU), top politicians are losing their inner freedom – and their former friends. "It's a business that has destructive elements," Guttenberg told the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The "completely deviant rhythm" leaves top politicians hardly any time to reflect. And with 15 or 16 appointments a day, you only see your family for a few hours a week. The price: loneliness.
"Yes, we are ruled by lonely people, but they say the opposite," said Guttenberg. There is no time to cultivate friendships, so they are lost very quickly. After all, new ties could sometimes form within politics. "The recognition of mutual loneliness can also weld people together," reported the 51-year-old. He himself has made some resilient friendships in this way. "But almost exclusively into other parties. In your own shop, you are easily a direct competitor. Or at least that's how it feels."
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Guttenberg had initially had a career as a shooting star of the CSU. He rose to the rank of minister and was even considered a candidate for chancellor. Then he fell over plagiarism in his doctoral thesis and his failed crisis management. At the end of his political career, he was at the end of his rope "after years of overexploitation" at the age of only 39, he now described. And yet I would like to see young people with a creative will decide to go into politics. I hope they won't be disillusioned by encrusted party structures." To achieve this, there would have to be more opportunities to switch back and forth between politics and professional life.
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After his resignation as Secretary of Defense, Guttenberg had tried to gain a foothold in the United States as a businessman. However, his name appeared again and again in connection with scandals. His consulting firm Spitzberg Partners, for example, worked for the bankrupt Wirecard group. Spitzberg is also reportedly said to have invested money in the scandalous company Augustus Intelligence.
beb/dpa