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Lobby even in the CDU board: Association raises allegations - new telephone scandal about MPs?

2021-03-17T05:16:09.391Z


The CDU is in the middle of a lobby scandal. The LobbyControl association misses the will to clarify - and sees another "problematic construction".


The CDU is in the middle of a lobby scandal.

The LobbyControl association misses the will to clarify - and sees another "problematic construction".

Berlin - mask affair, Azerbaijan, Amthor, suspected surreptitious advertising in the Ministry of Agriculture - CDU and CSU have made plenty of negative lobby headlines in recent years.

The latest allegations could even have contributed a small part to the election debacle in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate.

Problems that the sister parties should urgently get under control in the super election year.

For the time being, however, it is making further allegations.

The LobbyControl association increased the pressure at least on the CDU again on Tuesday.

In a press conference, he not only criticized the failure to come to terms with the scandals of the past few years - despite the party's confessions to the contrary.

Rather, it also looked at a well-known institution: the “Economic Council of the CDU”.

In a recently presented study, the lobby experts attest the Christian Democrats to delicate practices.

CDU in the criticism: economic council in sight - Merz "top lobbyist" and lobby representative with seat in the party executive committee

Study author Christina Deckwirth explained that the Economic Council is often misperceived by the public: It is not a party committee, but officially a “professional association”, but still has a “bogus image” as part of the party.

Nevertheless, the council has a place in the CDU party executive.

This means that “lobbyists” are represented in the party leadership.

Not with the right to vote, but at least with the right to speak.

That was "absurd" and a "problematic construction", said Deckwirth.

At the same time, due to the construction, the finances of the economic council remained largely in the dark and tax advantages were possible.

Deckwirth made a specific request to the best-known face of the Economic Council: Friedrich Merz.

As Vice President of the Economic Council, the well-known conservative is actually a “top lobbyist”.

Merz would have to give up the post if he continued to strive for top positions, said the political scientist.

In January, Merz had knocked out an office in the second row of the party leadership.

In the study, LobbyControl also focuses on a CDU top politician who recently made a name for himself in lobbying matters: Thomas Bareiß, State Secretary in the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

Although Bareiß has no official function in the Economic Council, he also appears regularly as a speaker at energy policy events through the association - and was even a member of the advisory board of the gas industry lobby group "Zukunft Erdgas" until he took office.

CDU under attack: Excitement about Economic Council - and the MP Joachim Pfeiffer

From LobbyControl's point of view, the close ties to the CDU-affiliated association are problematic primarily because the Economic Council does not represent a cross-section of the economy in the country, but rather brings together "especially those companies and actors" who are skeptical of climate protection measures on issues relating to climate change. because they themselves are anchored in the fossil fuel economy or because they reject climate protection for ideological reasons ”.

Another problem case in the paper is the MP Joachim Pfeiffer.

He does not state his activity as a board member in the Baden-Württemberg Economic Council on his Bundestag homepage - "a clear violation of the transparency rules of the Bundestag".

On Tuesday there was also further excitement about Pfeiffer.

Journalists of the

time

called the two companies owned by the CDU politician - and they said they came out of Pfeiffer's constituency office.

A lawyer Pfeiffer denied the amalgamation.

However, screenshots could be seen on Twitter as evidence.

Google and the Yellow Pages continued to have identical numbers for companies and the office of representatives.

“The companies use the infrastructure that is financed with tax revenues,” concluded the

time

Lobby scandal in the CDU: “No will for comprehensive clarification”?

With the recent efforts of the CDU to clear up sensitive lobby connections, Imke Dierßen, political director of the association, went to court on Tuesday.

In spite of his scandal, Philipp Amthor was chosen as the top candidate in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania without objection from the party.

In addition, it is still unclear what exactly he received stock options from Augustus Intelligence for.

MEP Katrin Strenz, who was allegedly entangled in the Afghanistan schemes - and fined by the Bundestag - was not asked by the parliamentary group to resign.

There is "no will for comprehensive clarification," said Dierßen.

In the dispute over new lobbying rules, the Union is also trying “to make minimal concessions and watering down rules.” The Economic Council is also “an expression of the unquestioned structural proximity of the Union to companies,” she emphasized.

"We demand: Members of the parliament may not be lobbyists at the same time".

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Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-03-17

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