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Andreas Scheuer: "He would do everything again"

2021-01-28T20:16:37.912Z


For the second time, the committee of inquiry asked Andreas Scheuer about the toll fiasco. The Minister of Transport remained true to his line. SPIEGEL editor Gerald Traufetter analyzes his resignation demands.


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Gerald Traufetter, DER SPIEGEL:

"In his opening statement, he said yes, he could understand the displeasure that some feel about the failed car toll."

Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer had to defend his approach to the failed car toll for the second time before the parliamentary committee of inquiry.

In an interview, he recently apologized for the fiasco.

You waited in vain in front of the committee.

Gerald Traufetter, DER SPIEGEL:

“But when someone asked today what he wanted to apologize for, he couldn't really think of anything.

And well, on the contrary, he even said today that he would actually do everything again as he decided back then. "

In 2018, Scheuer had signed contracts before it was clear whether the planned car toll ^ 1 was legal.

The European Court of Justice finally overturned the project.

Since then, the operating companies have been demanding 560 million euros in damages - for which the taxpayers may still have to pay.

Scheuer emphasized several times to the committee that he had acted to the best of his knowledge and belief.

Gerald Traufetter, DER SPIEGEL:

“Today he was very clever and almost exclusively dumped the blame on his State Secretary.

Because he said, he really asked him again and again: Is that compliant with European law?

Do we have to fear something from the judgment of the European Court of Justice?

We now know that the court said that the toll is contrary to European law.

And he was always told: everything is okay.

And he trusted his employees. "

The committee of inquiry, however, has gathered a lot of strong evidence, for example that budget law may have been broken.

There are doubts about Scheuer's will to be transparent and his credibility.

Gerald Traufetter, DER SPIEGEL:

“There is also the allegation that Scheuer lied to the MPs.

He did not properly inform her about one of those secret conversations and an offer that was made there.

Now it is so that he could not remember the words that were exchanged in that conversation.

And his State Secretary could not remember either, so that testimony is against testimony. "

For the opposition, after a year in the investigation committee, it is clear that not everything can have been right with the toll.

She calls for the resignation of the minister.

Gerald Traufetter, DER SPIEGEL:

“These are all things.

Well, with which he now has to live practically and but can also live quite well.

Because the grand coalition is certainly not calling for resignation as the opposition is calling for.

That has something to do with the fact that the public's interest has now of course moved away from this toll affair during the corona crisis. "

Is Scheuer still acceptable despite the loss of public trust?

He could just sit out the opposition's demands for resignation.

Because the coalition partner SPD sees the responsibility with Scheuer's party, the CSU.

Gerald Traufetter, DER SPIEGEL:

“There is still the SPD as a coalition partner, which could actually be the one who says Scheuer is intolerable in his office.

But it doesn't do that.

And that may have something to do with the fact that the SPD has a minister who is currently under pressure on a committee of inquiry.

That is the Federal Finance Minister and SPD candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

And it's about the Wirecard scandal. "

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-01-28

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