Berlin, (Samajweekly) Annalena Baerbock, the Green party’s candidate for Chancellor in Germany’s upcoming federal election, has said her husband will take care of their children if she wins.
“The responsibility of the Chancellor’s office means being available day and night. I will be able to do that because my husband would take full parental leave (should she become Chancellor),” dpa news agency quoted the 40-year-old as saying on Sunday to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
The Green party leader and her husband Daniel Holefleisch have two daughters aged five and nine.
Baerbock emphasized that her partner was already responsible for the girls’ upbringing and for the housework.
“My husband takes on full responsibility and work at home. He has already reduced his working hours over the past few years because I often leave the house early in the morning and come home at night.”
In the final phase of the election campaign, her husband plans to stay at home entirely from “also to be there as a father when our younger daughter starts school”, she added.
According to Baerbock, her husband had the right to veto her decision to run for Chancellor, “because it all changes our entire family life”.
Holefleisch currently works as a lobbyist for Germany’s mail service, Deutsche Post.
Should she become chancellor or get a seat in the federal cabinet after the federal election at the end of September, he is likely to change jobs, Baerbock said.
“If I accept a government position, it is very clear that my husband will not continue his work there.”
