Porsche boss boasts of influence on Lindner - and combustion engine off
Created: 07/22/2022, 15:46
By: Lisa Mayerhofer
Finance Minister Christian Lindner is a Porsche fan.
(Archive image) © Fabian Sommer/dpa
According to a report, Porsche boss Oliver Blume made spicy statements about his closeness to Finance Minister Lindner at a meeting.
There are calls for resignation on Twitter.
Berlin – Minister of Finance Christian Lindner (FDP) is a big fan of Porsche cars.
And probably not only that: In its current episode, the ZDF program “Die Anstalt” quotes the Porsche boss Oliver Blume with spicy statements about his influence on the finance minister of the traffic light coalition.
Porsche boss according to ZDF: Lindner kept him "almost every hour up to date"
During the works meeting on June 29, 2022, he is said to have said: “We have a large part in the fact that e-fuels were included in the coalition agreement.
We were a main driver there.” In addition, Lindner “kept him up to date almost every hour in the last few days”.
Documents that verify this statement would be available to the ZDF editorial team.
A press spokesman for Porsche told
merkur.de
on request: “There was no such exchange.
It is true that the company maintains a constructive exchange with all relevant stakeholders.”
The alleged statements by Blume are about the hotly debated exit from combustion engines at EU level.
The environment ministers of the 27 EU countries agreed on June 29 in Luxembourg to end cars with petrol and diesel engines.
From 2035, only zero-emission new cars such as electric cars will be registered in the EU.
However, at Germany's insistence, the agreement leaves open the possibility that new cars with combustion engines powered by so-called e-fuels can also be registered after 2035.
The back door via e-fuels is the common position that the federal government agreed to after a heated argument under pressure from the FDP.
E-fuels are synthetic fuels that are to be produced from renewable electricity.
Environmental groups criticize that e-fuels are inefficient, not automatically climate-neutral and will remain expensive and only available to a limited extent for the foreseeable future.
Twitter user: "With Lindner, 'having a Porsche drive to the ministry' takes on a whole new meaning"
The statements made by Blume according to "Anstalt" are met with great outrage on social media.
The hashtag #lindnerruecktritt is trending on Twitter, calls for his resignation are getting louder.
A user writes: "With Lindner, 'having a Porsche drive to the ministry' takes on a whole new meaning.
Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to write here what I think of this arrogant prat.
But I can do one thing: demand #lindner resignation." Ex-Stern editor-in-chief Andreas Petzold tweeted: "In addition to this unabashed lobbying service, the amazing thing is that Lindner actually believed that something like this would not be made public.
Too much hubris.
As we know: at some point everything always comes out.”
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Christian Storch, press spokesman for the Berlin Greens, also refers to the current episode of the "Institute" and the statements made therein about Lindner and Blume on his private Twitter account.
The official Twitter account of the Volkswagen Group, to which Porsche belongs, responded: "Christian Lindner is known to be a Porsche fan, which makes us happy.
But there was no live ticker".
However, Volkswagen was not able to calm the spirits with this.
Storch insists on the "evidence" of ZDF, the discussion on Twitter continues.
The reports come at an inopportune time for Porsche.
The sports car manufacturer only announced on Monday that it intends to significantly increase its profitability in the coming years.
Porsche is to be listed on the stock exchange by the VW group before the end of this year, and a listing in the fourth quarter is planned so far.
(lma/dpa)
