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Car toll: AfD wants Seehofer and Söder to be called on the witness stand

2020-02-14T13:06:32.722Z


Andreas Scheuer (CSU) are accused of the most serious mistakes in the car toll debacle. Now there are allegations against Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and Chancellor Angela Merkel.


Andreas Scheuer (CSU) are accused of the most serious mistakes in the car toll debacle. Now there are allegations against Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and Chancellor Angela Merkel.

  • The investigative committee on the car toll starts with public hearings on Thursday.
  • Experts accuse Minister of Transport Scheuer of violating the public procurement process and financing errors.
  • Now there are allegations against Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and Chancellor Angela Merkel .

Update from February 14: The AfD requested on Friday to hear CSU boss Markus Söder and his predecessor Horst Seehofer as witnesses in the committee of inquiry into the failed car toll . This was announced by Wolfgang Wiehle, the chairman of the AfD in the committee. The reason is therefore the statements of the former Federal Minister of Transport Peter Ramsauer (CSU) on Thursday in the committee of inquiry.

Car toll: In a wholesale agreement, the construction of the toll, which is contrary to European law, was risked

Ramsauer had said that in the coalition agreement between the Union and the SPD in 2013 a part of the text had been changed by the then party chairmen Horst Seehofer (CSU), Angela Merkel (CDU) and Sigmar Gabriel (SPD), risking an illegal construction of the toll , such as Wiehle explained. "This raises questions about the responsibilities of the top management that urgently need to be clarified."

For a speedy clarification, it is therefore necessary to promptly question witnesses "who can actually answer whether the toll project was torpedoed subconsciously or at the top level," said the AfD politician. "The committee of inquiry should therefore no longer spend too much time at hearings at civil servant level, but should now also put politically responsible persons at the center of the surveys." In addition to Seehofer and Söder, Merkel and Gabriel should also be heard as witnesses .

Car toll: Scheuer goes on the offensive and receives support

Update from February 13, 2020: The dispute over the cost of the failed car toll is entering a new round - and Andreas Scheuer (CSU) is apparently on the offensive: According to its own information, the Federal Ministry of Transport initiated an extrajudicial arbitration suit against the companies involved on Thursday , The federal government wants to determine that the companies are not entitled to compensation. A dispute settlement initiated in January had not brought an agreement last week.

The ministry's arbitration is directed against the participating companies Autoticket, CTS Eventim and Kapsch TrafficCom. The aim is to have it established that "Autoticket GmbH and its shareholders are not entitled to any claims for reimbursement or compensation from the federal government," said the ministry head, Andreas Scheuer (CSU).

In the room there are claims by the toll companies totaling around 560 million euros . The Ministry of Transport, for its part, accuses the companies of "not fulfilling their contractual services and breaking contractual milestones". This would have "violated the operator contract in breach of the operator contract" after the termination by the federal government. The Ministry therefore claims contractual penalties that are not quantified.

According to the operating contract , the three members of the arbitration tribunal are appointed and appointed by the German Arbitration Institution in Bonn. The ministry claims that the arbitral tribunal “can start work quickly”. However, it is expected that the dispute could drag on for a long time.

Car toll scandal: Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer goes on the offensive - and sued the toll companies

In the meantime, Scheuer has handed in his cell phone for examination. According to the FDP chairman, data from the minister of transport's official cell phone have been saved in connection with the car toll that has burst. This also affects data of the state secretaries involved in the toll and the management level of the ministry, the FDP politician Christian Jung said on Thursday before the next meeting of the toll investigation committee in the Bundestag. The data would now be made available to the committee.

Jung said that it prevented errors like the cell phone of the former defense minister and today's EU commission chief Ursula von der Leyen (CDU). Her cell phone data had been wiped after politicians' phone numbers were released earlier this year.

The Ministry of Transport had already announced that the data would be backed up, according to a response to a request from the left in the Bundestag. Accordingly, the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) was asked to make a backup copy.

By the way: Weather expert Jörg Kachelmann also dealt with traffic policy in a broader sense on Thursday. He raged on Twitter for a post by government spokesman Steffen Seibert. The most harmless judgment was “pathetic”.

Toll scandal: Ramsauer defends Dobrindt - Chancellor Merkel and Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer are to blame

In the toll investigation committee , former transport minister Peter Ramsauer protected his successors Alexander Dobrindt and Andreas Scheuer (all CSU) . Ramsauer said on Thursday as a witness that Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the then CSU leader Horst Seehofer had negotiated a “European law impossibility” with the SPD “seeing eyes” during the coalition negotiations in 2013 in the coalition agreement. "My successors had to deal with this mortgage, and the rest is known," said Ramsauer of the car toll that later burst. He was in office from 2009 to 2013.

Specifically, it is about a passage in the coalition agreement at the time that for the additional financing of the maintenance and expansion of the motorway network, an appropriate contribution should be made by the owners of cars that are not registered in Germany - with the "stipulation that no vehicle owner in Germany is more heavily burdened than today".

Court of Auditors sees many shortcomings in car tolls - "slap in the face" for scourers

Update of January 30, 2020: In the toll investigation committee , the Federal Audit Office has renewed allegations against the Ministry of Transport. A representative of the authority made it clear as a witness on Thursday that there had been a lack of risk assessment and violations of budgetary and public procurement law in the house of Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer (CSU) when the car toll had subsequently burst.

The Court of Auditors had already accused Scheuer of serious shortcomings in a report. The ministry wrote in a report to the Bundestag in November that the ministry had "violated public procurement law" and "violated budget law" in the toll contracts.

Opposition faction politicians see this as a heavy burden for scrubbers. FDP politician Christian Jung told the investigative committee meeting that the report was "the worst slap in the face" for Scheuer. The minister did not take the "budget truth" seriously.

The CSU politician Ulrich Lange warned against making the Court of Auditors "leniency" against scouring . The report is not conclusive in itself. The Ministry of Transport again rejected the Court's criticism as unjustified. The toll contracts are in line with budget and public procurement law. The ministry also pointed out that it was to cooperate "comprehensively and fully" with the Federal Audit Office.

Drastic accusation: Is Seehofer to blame for Scheuer's toll fiasco?

Update of January 24: The committee of inquiry into the failed car toll wants to hear former transport minister Peter Ramsauer (CSU) as a witness at the beginning of March. The committee's leaders had made a corresponding request, FDP chairman Christian Jung said on Friday. Ramsauer's statements in the press were the reason, the incumbent Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer (CSU) only spooned out the soup that the former CSU boss Horst Seehofer had brought him.

"We would therefore like to give Peter Ramsauer the opportunity at the beginning of March 2020 to support the committee of inquiry in its educational work," said Jung. Ramsauer had told the editorial network Germany that Seehofer drove the ministers Alexander Dobrindt and Scheuer into a toll model "which he knew could not be done." Dobrindt , the CSU group leader, was Ramsauer's successor and Scheuer's predecessor.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) overturned the toll plans in June 2019 after the operator contracts had already been signed. Transport Minister Scheuer had concluded the contracts for collecting and checking the toll with the operators in 2018. Among other things, the committee of inquiry wants to examine whether the government has violated public procurement law or budget law. Scheuer himself rejects this.

The transport minister confirmed to the Augsburger Allgemeine on Friday that he was not thinking of giving up. "In life, whether privately or professionally, there are also tougher times, so you have to fight your way out of it." He does not make a policy for popularity surveys. The newspaper had published a survey on Thursday, according to which a majority of Bayern and also the CSU supporters are in favor of a replacement by Scheuer.

On Thursday evening, Scheuer again caused criticism. Scheuer is accused of an embarrassing appearance on the ZDF talk "Markus Lanz".

Critical criticism: Scheuer should now move out his smartphone - disaster

Update from January 16, 2:05 p.m .: The FDP has asked the Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer (CSU) to secure the smartphones on duty on the sidelines of the toll investigation committee. "In contrast to (former defense minister) Ursula von der Leyen, Andreas Scheuer must not destroy evidence of cell phone data and above all text messages or missing and cleaned smartphones," said the FDP chairman in the investigation committee, Christian Jung between two committee meetings on Thursday.

Today's EU Commission President von der Leyen does not have any cell phone data available to the Bundestag's investigative committee on the advisory affair in the Ministry of Defense because it was deleted.

Christian Jung MdB: Securing and storing the SMS messages and smartphones from Federal Minister Andreas Scheuer MdB necessary for preventive reasons. @ c_jung77 @fdpbt @FDPBW @fdp #maut #untersuchungsausschuss #pua pic.twitter.com/QKeO0M6P0H

- Christian Jung (@ c_jung77) January 16, 2020

Passenger car toll: expert opinion is devastating over Minister Scheuer

First report from January 16, 2020: Berlin - On Thursday, the Bundestag's Investigative Committee meets for the car toll that has burst. At the meeting, experts should be heard on controversial issues. Commissioned experts accuse Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) of violating European law, public procurement law and budget law. Scheuer rejects the allegations. He is also charged with secret conversations that have not been recorded. It could be tight for Scheuer - but it will certainly be very uncomfortable for him.

Car toll: expert opinion puts a considerable strain on scouring

The experts of the law firm , who were to prepare one of two reports on the award of toll orders, told the Süddeutsche Zeitung that the implementation of the award procedure had violated public procurement regulations. Negotiations with the Paspagon bidding group, which later became Kapsch and CTS Eventim, describe the experts as "inadmissible" to the Süddeutsche Zeitung . There are also doubts as to whether the selected operator's offer was economical and whether the bid should have been awarded at all.

According to the Süddeutscher Zeitung, there is also criticism that secret talks have taken place, as has become known. There are indications that the ministry has violated its obligations to record negotiations and record minutes of negotiations, the experts estimate to Süddeutsche . " Subsequent changes to the contract by involving the state company Toll Collect also raise public procurement concerns," the paper said.

Disaster for car toll: "Expert battle" in the committee of inquiry

A member of the investigative committee told the Süddeutsche Zeitung that he was expecting an expert battle for hours in the committee. Two experts should be heard for each topic, some of which could express themselves in the interests of the Federal Ministry, which rejects the allegations.

Regardless of the outcome of the committee of inquiry, the Scheuer matter could cost its post. His bad survey results make CSU boss Markus Söder consider replacing Scheuer when the cabinet is being remodeled.

The federal government had signed contracts to collect and control the car toll in 2018 - before there was any legal certainty. The European Court of Justice stopped the project in June 2019. Immediately after the ECJ ruling in mid-June, the federal government terminated the contracts. Before Christmas, the operators Kapsch and CTS Eventim intended for the car toll had put their demands on the federal government at 560 million euros. Arbitration is now considered probable. The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for late January.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-02-14

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