According to a report, Jens Spahn made a big mistake when it came to the costs of corona tests in Germany.
His ministry has to explain.
Munich / Berlin - departmental principle.
It is a cumbersome term that regulates in the Basic Law that a federal minister manages his business area independently and under his own responsibility.
This passage is written in black and white in Article 65 sentence 2.
Jens Spahn (CDU) is head of the Federal Ministry of Health in Berlin, which is now coming under pressure due to the corona tests in the coronavirus pandemic in Germany.
Corona rapid tests in Germany: Jens Spahn is said to have miscalculated a lot
The
Süddeutsche Zeitung
reports
that Spahn and his ministry miscalculated their test ordinance from March 8th.
Specifically: The Federal Ministry of Health is said to have misjudged how high the actual costs will be for the commercial providers of corona rapid tests.
Said costs should soon be over a billion euros.
In
its report, the
SZ
refers to internal documents of the ministry, including a draft for the test regulation.
Accordingly, Spahn would have expected significantly lower expenses for what he called the “citizen tests”, it is said.
In said draft, the following section would be found: The construction and operation of private test centers lead to “estimated additional expenditure” for the state “in the amount of a low to mid three-digit million amount, depending on the development of the test process”.
Corona rapid tests in Germany: coronavirus pandemic increasingly expensive for taxpayers
This would mean that the 41-year-old Spahn and his employees would have miscalculated several hundred million euros.
According to the
SZ
, the ministry announced that it “does not want to comment on unfinalized draft regulations”.
Even more: An estimate of the cost of the rapid tests paid for by the state is therefore “not possible”.
Endless costs?
The coronavirus pandemic is at least becoming more and more expensive for taxpayers.
Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) recently announced that a total of 99.97 billion euros in corona economic aid had been approved in Germany up to and including May 10th.
(pm)