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Economy Minister Peter Altmaier in the Bundestag (archive picture)
Photo: Dorothée Barth / dpa
Economics Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) apparently made a faux pas in a Bundestag vote.
Altmaier was the only Union politician to vote on Thursday against a recommendation for a resolution by the health committee - and thus for an application by the left to release the patents for corona vaccines.
This emerges from the voting data of the Bundestag.
Altmaier thus deviated from the government line of not suspending vaccine patents.
"The protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and must remain so in the future," said a government spokeswoman.
Altmaier's vote against the government motion was apparently an oversight.
"I share the unanimous position of my group on this issue," Altmaier wrote on Twitter.
Previously, the ZDF journalist Florian Neuhann had pointed out Altmaier's surprising vote.
Altmaier spoke of an "error".
In principle, he did not vote for motions from the left and had probably thrown a wrong voting card in the ballot box.
"I will clarify the matter," announced Altmaier.
SPD MP Mindrup also voted in favor of the left-wing motion
In the request of the left, among other things, exceptions to the regulations of the Medicines Act and other laws were requested.
The government should also set vaccine prices.
The government should follow the initiative of India and South Africa and waive international obligations to protect patents and copyrights in the corona pandemic.
Union, SPD, AfD and FDP rejected the application almost completely.
At the SPD, the MP Klaus Mindrup also voted against.
The Greens abstained.
Inadvertent casting of votes always occurs occasionally in the Bundestag.
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