"Cracks in the CSU building": Dobrindt makes people sit up and take notice at the toll debacle - is it now tight for Scheuer?

In the middle of the night, ex-Minister Dobrindt testified in the investigation committee on the car toll.

Dobrindt is cool about his successor Andreas Scheuer.

The opposition sees "withdrawal movements".

Berlin - The crashing, failed

car toll

becomes a permanent disaster for the CSU.

In the middle of the night, ex-Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt testified in the Bundestag committee of inquiry.

After that, the party has to try to dispel an unfavorable impression: The

CSU is

now slowly

dropping

its

Minister Andreas Scheuer

.

Scheuer is heavily criticized on the subject of tolls - the opposition accuses him of making expensive mistakes at the expense of taxpayers.

Alexander Dobrindt testifies to the toll debacle - and comments coolly to Scheuer: "Everyone is responsible"

Dobrindt himself dismissed allegations of joint responsibility for the failure of the toll on Friday night (January 15).

In

a compromise on the German toll model, the

EU Commission

“gave a stamp of conformity” to European law, said Dobrindt.

The toll could thus be implemented.

However, the opposition sees it very differently.

Dobrindt said the ruling by the

European Court of Justice

(ECJ), which "wiped the toll off the table" *, surprised him very much.

In the summer of 2019, the ECJ declared the German car toll to be contrary to European law - it was discriminatory for car owners from other EU countries.

Looking at his successor in office Andreas Scheuer (CSU), Dobrindt said that during his time as Federal Minister he had

political responsibility

.

Each minister is responsible for his own decision.

A spokesman for the CSU in the Bundestag also pointed out that Dobrindt had answered the question of whether Scheuer had made a mistake with "No".

CSU: "cracks" in party cohesion?

Opposition sees "withdrawal movements" away from Scheuer

FDP chairman Christian Jung

said that Dobrindt had put all political responsibility for the car toll disaster on Scheuer.

Left official Jörg Cezanne

emphasized that Dobrindt was responsible for the legal situation that had failed before the ECJ.

Green chairman Oliver Krischer

spoke of clear "cracks" in the CSU building, there were movements of Scheuer recognizable.

Dobrindt's argument that the Commission had delivered a “carte blanche” under European law is far-fetched.

This has been refuted by a witness.

3.24 a.m.: Opposite @ c_jung77, Alexander #Dobrindt shifts the complete political responsibility for the # car # toll disaster of @CSU to @AndiScheuer.

@bmvi #Untersuchungsausschuss @fdpbt @ostwestkonflikt @kbecker @AndyHoenig

- Christian Jung (@ c_jung77) January 15, 2021

The former head of cabinet of ex-EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker,

Martin Selmayr

, had

testified

as a witness that the EU commission stopped the infringement proceedings against Germany in the matter of car tolls in 2017, was no guarantee for legal certainty.

Krischer said that Dobrindt had tried with his testimony to push away his own responsibility as the "architect of the toll".

The

ECJ ruling

related to the model for which Dobrindt, as Transport Minister, had received the green light from the EU Commission at the end of 2016.

The car toll was included in the black-red coalition agreement of 2013 at the insistence of the CSU.

Dobrindt was Transport Minister from 2013 to 2017 and has been CSU regional group leader since then.

Scheuer under pressure: CSU tries to interpret - Dobrindt hacked "no blame pushed towards Scheuer"

Union chairman Ulrich Lange (CSU) said that Dobrindt had not put any blame in the direction of Scheuer, but described his actions during his term of office.

There was close contact with the EU Commission on the car toll from the start.

The opposition, however, complained that under Dobrindt's leadership the

toll laws

had been brought by the Bundestag and Bundesrat.

Contrary to many legal opinions, the toll laws have been declared as legally compliant.

Krischer said that Dobrindt had threaded the car toll and set the basic course that would have subsequently led to the "legal total loss" before the

European Court of Justice

.

Dobrindt also said during Scheuer's term of office since 2018 that the toll had been set, that there had been a fixed implementation order for the responsible federal minister, regardless of its name.

Car toll: Important witness relieves CSU Minister Scheuer

The core of the investigations is that the

Ministry of Transport had

signed contracts for the collection and control of tolls under Scheuer at the end of 2018 - before there was final legal certainty.

The opposition accuses Scheuer of serious mistakes, for example in

budgetary and public procurement law

.

The proposed operators are demanding 560 million euros in damages after the federal government terminated the contracts immediately after the judgment.

Scheuer rejects the allegations.

He is to be questioned again on January 28 as a witness in the investigative committee.

Before Dobrindt, an important witness had exonerated Scheuer again.

It is about statements from managers of the later operating companies.

They testified that at a meeting in November 2018 they had offered Scheuer to wait until the European Court of Justice had decided to conclude contracts.

The former Secretary of State for

Transport, Gerhard Schulz

, said in the committee that he was “very certain that there was no such offer”.

Schulz had already

stated this

in a

testimony

in October - and has now substantiated it.

After inspecting the files, his memory “became a certainty” that no such offer had been made.

Schulz suspected the ongoing arbitration proceedings between the federal government and the companies as the reason for the managers' statements to the contrary.

(

dpa / fn

) *

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