Germany’s foreign office is reportedly paying a freelance stylist nearly $8,000 a month to keep its minister looking presentable.
Claude Frommen, a renowned freelance make-up artist who has reportedly worked with major clients such as Porsche and TUI, is reportedly being paid just under $8,000 a month by the government to keep its Minister of Foreign Affairs looking windswept and interesting.
The expenditure comes at a time when many Germans are struggling under massive inflation which has seen the price of fuel, food and other amenities rise substantially this year.
Nevertheless, according to a report by Bild, Germany’s Foreign Affairs ministry has found it somewhere within the budget to pay Frommen a flat rate of €7,500 (~$7,945) every month to work with Green party minister Annalena Baerbock.
Speaking to the newspaper, a spokeswoman from the ministry said that the pay includes “very time-consuming” trips to foreign countries, as well as “numerous appointments at weekends and at special times of the day”.
“Ms Frommen takes care of Foreign Minister Baerbock’s photo and television appointments with her make-up and hair styling,” the spokeswoman reportedly explained, before adding that the make-up artist also looks after the minister’s “photo and television appointments on trips abroad”.
Baerbock is reportedly not Frommen’s only client working within the government, however, with North Rhine-Westphalia Minister-President Hendrik Wüst also reported as employing the professional’s services.
Garnering multiple articles in the German press, the federal government’s decision to spend a relatively large sum of money on a single make-up artist has likely drawn eyes due to it occurring at a time of substantial financial difficulty for many in the country.
With inflation nationwide sitting at a square 10 per cent according to state statistics agency Destatis, many Germans have been left struggling as a result of the country’s energy crisis, something that can partly be put down to the green agenda politics of the old Angela Merkel government, a legacy continued by the new left-green-globalist coalition government.
So bad has the crisis been that it has even resulted in some shelves in various supermarket chains being left bare, with suppliers refusing to send stock to vendors amid certain items becoming unprofitable.
However, such is probably the least of concern for many in the country, with there once again being warnings that Germany could see gas shortages before the winter is out this year.
According to the head of the country’s Federal Network Agency energy watchdog, Germany has failed to save anywhere near the amount of gas needed to avert shortages, with the expert reporting that consumption is down only 5 per cent on last year.
This is compared to the 20 per cent that is reportedly required.
“We don’t have to ring the alarm after two or three weeks like now,” the organisation’s President, Klaus Müller, reportedly said. “But it must not go on like this for the whole of January and February.”
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