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CDU parliamentary group leader Brinkhaus, CSU regional group leader Dobrindt.
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
It has been clear since the last few weeks at the latest: The German Bundestag has a problem with opaque lobbying.
The public prosecutor's office is investigating against the CSU member Georg Nüßlein, he is said to have enriched himself by mediating medical material.
The parliamentarian Nikolas Löbel (CDU) also earned 250,000 euros from the mediation of masks, the Thuringian MP Mark Hauptmann (CDU) also mediated mask orders - but, as he says, without having personally benefited from it.
He also stood out for his dubious relations with Azerbaijan.
Both politicians have left the Bundestag.
Code of Conduct announced
The top of the faction tries to limit the damage.
By Friday evening, all members of the Union made a "declaration of honor" in which they assured that they had not received any benefits from brokerage transactions in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
CDU parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus and CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt have also announced a code of conduct for the Union parliamentary group, which should contain a "clear regime of requirements and sanctions".
The code would supplement the rules of conduct that apply to members of the German Bundestag.
According to these rules of conduct, members of parliament must notify the President of the Bundestag in writing within three months of the start of their term of office,
in which committees (e.g. boards of directors and supervisory boards) of companies, corporations or institutions under public law they were and are
what paid sideline jobs they do in addition to their office.
If they earn more than 1,000 euros a month or 10,000 euros a year, they must also disclose the amount of their income
whether agreements exist or they conclude which, according to which they are assigned a certain activity during or after their term of office or they are to be given pecuniary advantages
whether they have holdings in corporations or partnerships, if "this creates a significant economic influence on a company"
Up until now, income has not been published with an exact contribution, but in ten levels.
Level 1 is income from 1000 to 3500 euros, level 10 income over 250,000 euros
MEPs must report donations for amounts over 5,000 euros per year.
For amounts over 10,000 euros per year, the donations are published on the Bundestag website with details of the amount and origin
DER SPIEGEL 11/2021
It's getting dark
Two months after his election as CDU leader, Armin Laschet is confronted with the worst Union crisis in years.
MEPs have enriched themselves with mask deals and stand out due to dubious connections to Azerbaijan.
Half a year before the federal election, the Chancellery no longer seems safe for the Union.
Read our cover story, further background information and analyzes in digital SPIEGEL.
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What if MPs don't obey the rules?
In the event of breaches of duty, there is a threat of a fine, which can amount to a maximum of half of the annual parliamentary allowance.
In addition, it can be checked whether the MP has disregarded the MPs Act.
The result can then be published as a printed matter.
Some parliamentary groups have set their own rules in addition to these rules.
For example, members of the SPD are not allowed to accept donations, but have to forward them to the party, explains a spokesman.
Even those who sit for the left parliamentary group in the Bundestag are not allowed to accept gifts or donations in connection with the mandate, according to the parliamentary group.
In addition, MPs are only allowed to take on paid activities in companies or trade associations with a special permit.
At the AfD, MPs should not "take up" any new paid activities during their term of office and no paid activities with a "lobbyist character" or "in direct connection with their parliamentary activities" in the three years after the end of their term of office.
Due to the current mask affair, a possible revision of the rules is currently being examined.
The FDP parliamentary group refers to its “Code of Conduct”, which has been in force for the parliamentary group since 2019 and is “regularly reviewed”.
In the document it says under "Grant guidelines" that MPs and employees are required to "familiarize themselves with the relevant guidelines" and "strictly adhere to" them.
However, only the general rules of conduct in the Bundestag are meant by “guidelines”.
Use of a special investigator
The FDP parliamentary group seems to be rather skeptical of stricter rules for MPs.
Fractional manager Marco Buschmann stressed to the »Welt« that if parliament is to be a mirror of society, it must be possible to exercise a profession and take on sideline activities.
In order to clear up the mask affair, party leader Lindner is now proposing the use of a special investigator, for example a former member of the constitutional court.
At the beginning of the week, however, the Union announced that it would now take tough action.
A code of conduct for their own parliamentary group should prevent cases like Löbel and Nüßlein from repeating themselves in their own ranks.
It is a code "that goes well beyond what is legally expected of members of the German Bundestag," says a letter from Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus and CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt.
It should also be a question of which secondary activities are compatible with the parliamentary mandate.
"Paid advisory or mediation activities that are directly related to the area of responsibility that is supervised in the parliamentary group are to be excluded," says the letter.
A "compliance officer" is supposed to check the whole thing.
In addition, transparency is to be increased in secondary employment, for example with regard to income from company investments.
The limit for party donations, which have to be listed in annual reports, should be significantly reduced.
In the opinion of the SPD, the Greens and the Left, such a code of conduct does not solve the problems in parliament.
"We need effective rules that apply equally to all MPs and must also be enforced," says Britta Haßelmann, parliamentary manager of the Green Group.
Left parliamentary group leader Jan Korte calls the Union's code of conduct a »diversionary maneuver«, it needs »legal prohibitions«.
And for Carsten Schneider, the parliamentary manager of the SPD parliamentary group, a "non-binding commitment" is not enough.
On the other hand, one calls for "general, binding and sanction-proven tightening of criminal law".
The coalition partner will bring this concern "into talks with the Union".
The SPD, the Left and the Greens are calling for paid lobbying activities to be prohibited in addition to the mandate and an obligation to publish the exact amount of secondary activities (Left and Greens from 1000 euros).
In addition, all three parliamentary groups want to introduce a statutory lobby register with an executive footprint, which would oblige the federal government to enclose a list of all stakeholders and advisors who have worked with draft laws - that recently failed because of the union.
Classify parliamentary bribery as a crime
The left parliamentary group also wants to completely abolish party donations from companies and donations to party members.
The obligation to notify donations should be reduced to EUR 500 and the obligation to publish to EUR 1,000.
In its “ten-point plan for more transparency”, the SPD parliamentary group calls, among other things, for bribery and corruption of members of parliament to be classified as a crime in the future and punished with at least one year imprisonment.
MEPs should also indicate how many hours they work on their part-time work.
The Union has not yet been calling for such far-reaching tightenings.
And for some in the party, the planned Brinkhaus and Dobrindt code of conduct goes too far.
The domestic political spokesman for the Union parliamentary group, Mathias Middelberg (CDU), warned in the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" to carefully differentiate between corruption and the commitment of a member of parliament to his constituency.
Vice-Free of the parliamentary group also rejected a ban on secondary employment.
With a view to the independence of MPs, it is "even desirable that he does not only earn his money with politics," said Frei of the "Augsburger Allgemeine".
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