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Plenary Chamber of the Bundestag
Photo: Kira Hofmann / dpa
The grand coalition continued to negotiate on Wednesday about the consequences of the mask affair.
This concerns possible tightening in the areas of lobby registers, transparency rules, criminal law and party financing.
According to SPIEGEL information, the first parliamentary managing directors of the parliamentary groups of the Union and SPD are now discussing how to proceed.
At the center of the mask affair are the former Union MPs Georg Nüßlein and Nikolas Löbel.
Nüßlein, who left the parliamentary group and resigned from the CSU, is said to have received a commission of 660,000 euros through his consulting company - it is about orders worth millions for the procurement of corona protective equipment, Nüßlein is said to have brokered.
He denies the corruption allegations.
Löbel offered companies in the health sector to get them protective masks from a company in Baden-Württemberg - and collected a commission of 250,000 euros.
The CDU politician also left the parliamentary group, resigned from the party and resigned from the Bundestag.
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It is still open whether the two have been guilty of anything criminally.
Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) would like to make public the names of all MPs who were involved in the mediation of mask shops in the pandemic.
The Bundestag administration wants to leave this publication to Spahn, it is up to the ministry to approach the deputies.
A spokesman for the Bundestag said there was no decision-making authority on how the ministry would deal with requests for information on this matter.
Attention should be paid to the rights of Members of Parliament, which result from the protection of the freedom of the mandate.
The SPD warns of a general suspicion against MPs and is now proposing to the Union to appoint an independent transparency officer.
This should ensure that the contacts to mediate such mask business within the scope of the mandate of the respective MPs and not with the aim of gaining an advantage.
In a draft resolution of the Social Democrats, which is available to SPIEGEL, it is said that the Commissioner should ...
"Determine the reasons, circumstances and type of contact",
explain the relationship between MPs and the company in question,
»Clarify in which cases an intervention was successful, for example when the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) initiated a procurement, settled outstanding bills or settled other disputes between the ministry and the company« and
»Check whether the company made notifiable or not notifiable donations to the MPs or to party branches in the constituency of the MdB in connection with the intervention at the BMG, whether commissions were paid or other considerations made."
By the end of May, the SPD suggests, the transparency officer should then submit his report on the results of the investigations to Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU).
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