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Former NRW Prime Minister Laschet in August 2021 in the flood area: Good reasons for setting up a crisis team
Photo: imago images / Political-Moments
After the flood disaster in the summer, the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia set up a so-called coordination group - and not a large crisis team. This has been discussed in Düsseldorf for months. Did this decision make crisis management difficult? Has this restricted aid to the communities affected by the flood? The parliamentary committee of inquiry in the state parliament is currently investigating these questions.
A document from the State Chancellery now provides the background for the state government's approach.
On July 16, then Chancellor Angela Merkel took part in a video conference of the coordination group, she wanted to be clarified about the situation in the flood areas.
Shortly beforehand, Nathanael Liminski, the head of the State Chancellery, received an email from an employee for the video switch with Merkel.
SPIEGEL has received the email.
In one of the bullet points it says: “As you know, we in North Rhine-Westphalia made a conscious decision not to form a crisis team made up of just politicians, but rather this coordination group, in which all of you, the experts in their respective specific areas Departments, be able to bring your special expertise directly to bear. "
The wording suggests that the participation of politicians in a possible crisis team would have been a hindrance from the point of view of the state government.
Ministerial ministers would "only chat politically"
The Ministry of the Interior activated the coordination group on July 14th.
The committee, which comprised around 30 people, was headed by Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU).
External skilled workers such as members of the armed forces and federal police officers were represented.
In contrast, a crisis team basically includes all departments of the state government and the state chancellery.
Thus, the ministers and state secretaries of the departments concerned might also have been involved - which, however, was apparently not wanted in Düsseldorf.
The negative attitude towards a crisis team and the politicians represented in it coincides with reports from cabinet meetings that took place in the days after the flood. The then Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) was initially open to the establishment of a crisis team. So said one person who was present at the meeting. Interior Minister Reul had, however, strictly rejected the crisis team, his reasoning at the time being: In such a body the specialist ministers would "only chat politically".
Cabinet colleagues were angry about this statement by Reul. The interior minister wanted to do "everything alone," it was later said in Düsseldorf. Some ministers considered the coordination group to be »too small« and preferred »a crisis team instead of a panel of speakers«. But Reul prevailed, a crisis team was not set up.
Little comprehensible explanation
On request, the Ministry of the Interior announced that "such a discussion in the cabinet" "did not take place" after Reul remembered. It was pointed out that, according to the rules of procedure, all ministers affected by the situation could propose to the prime minister that a crisis team be convened.
The attitude of the state government formulated in the video conference with Merkel, according to which politicians instead of experts from practice would have the say in a crisis team, is difficult to understand. A decree from 2016 states that in the case of a crisis team, "at the top level in accordance with the departmental principle, the subject-specific departments of the state government take the place of the person with overall political responsibility".
At a meeting of the parliamentary committee of inquiry in December, Laschet said that he had "considered a crisis team not necessary".
The coordination group was "an effective body".
At the same meeting, Liminski reported that there had been "ongoing consultation" in the days following the disaster.
The conclusion was reached: "The coordination group was a sufficient structure." At that time, he had therefore perceived "no criticism" at all.
"We did it on our own"
Most recently, it became known that, shortly after the flood, officials from the State Chancellery came to the conclusion that, from a technical point of view, there were “good reasons” for assessing the situation as a catastrophe and thus for setting up a crisis team.
Among other things, because "there is a need for cross-departmental coordination and coordination".
In an internal e-mail from the State Chancellery on July 15, the state government had to "watch out" if a flood crisis team were to be activated, so that one did not create a "declaration of contradiction regarding the non-calling in the corona pandemic".
A few weeks after the flood, Reul admitted that activating a crisis team would have made sense for symbolic reasons.
In December, two firefighters from Hagen also testified as witnesses before the U-Committee.
They criticized the state government's decision against a crisis team: “Actually, the deployment of the Federal Armed Forces has to be controlled by the state government's crisis team.
We did it on our own, otherwise we would still be in Hagen today with a shovel and wheelbarrow. "