After criticism: Amthor's beach chair is brought back to MV

After his change of job to the Chancellery, Philipp Amthor had a beach chair taken to the balcony of his office - in front of the camera. The scene caused a stir. Now he draws consequences. The beach chair of Minister of State Philipp Amthor (CDU) is brought back to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern from the Federal Chancellery.

Amthor takes the criticism directed at him very seriously and has therefore decided to have the beach chair removed, deputy government spokesman Steffen Meyer said in the federal press conference. According to the information, Amthor had bought the beach chair for his office in the Chancellery privately and also paid for delivery and construction himself. For Amthor, the beach chair stands for a bond with his homeland, as the speaker explained. Philipp Amthor has been Minister of State for Federal-Länder Cooperation in the Chancellery since the end of July.

In the second season of the documentary series "Inside CDU" on ZDF, you can see how the beach chair is delivered and brought to the balcony next to his office. The scene had triggered some ridicule and critical reactions in the social networks. An Instagram post from "ZDF heute" to Amthor on "Inside CDU" had over 2,000 comments by Monday afternoon. Scene polarized Several Instagram users wrote that they first thought it was satire or AI-generated content.

Others accused Amthor of arrogance, one even spoke of "late Roman decadence in the final stage". Some users also took the scene with humor. “Oh, it's kind of funny with the beach chair. I'll give him the beach chair," one user wrote under a post.

Amthor comes from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where beach chairs line the beaches on the Baltic Sea coast. Beach chairs are also not uncommon in private gardens or on balconies in northern Germany.