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Gas production in Siberia
Photo: Kirill Kukhmar / ITAR-TASS / IMAGO
The activist collective »weiterSo!« has launched a whistleblowing appeal to employees of federal ministries, employees in the energy industry and members of the Bundestag.
These should share information about the influence of lobbyists in the gas industry on German politics.
The collective has set up a website where documents can be uploaded anonymously and where numerous tips can be found on how to cover your own tracks online and what rights you have as a whistleblower in Germany.
The leaked data will later be professionally evaluated by journalists.
The reason for the call is the special public interest in energy policy decisions in the current energy crisis, write the activists.
»We are dependent on a resource that contributes to global warming, dependent on autocrats and dependent on energy companies.«
It is all the more problematic that the negotiations on the new gas infrastructure and supply contracts, i.e. new dependencies, are largely taking place behind closed doors, the activists continue to write.
On October 11, in response to a request from the Left Party, the federal government listed numerous meetings with representatives of the gas industry.
The collective »Keep it up!« describes itself as a group from the fields of sociology, environmental and political science and social work that is »concerned about the consequences of the lack of transparency for democracy«.
The call is supported by the German Environmental Aid, the Society for Freedom Rights and the LobbyControl association, among others.
The collective's approach seems much more constructive than the actions of the »last generation«, which make a name for themselves primarily by disrupting public operations - for example by blocking roads or sticking to airports or public buildings.
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