Lobby scandal about Lindner and VW: Porsche turnaround - suddenly Blume wants to have chosen "wrong words".

Created: 2022-07-22Updated: 2022-07-24 11:49 am

By: Christoph Gschoßmann, Lisa Mayerhofer

Finance Minister Christian Lindner is said to have kept Porsche CEO Oliver Blume updated “almost every hour” during the coalition negotiations.

(Iconic photo) © Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

The future Volkswagen boss Oliver Blume is said to have made spicy statements about his closeness to Finance Minister Lindner at a meeting.

The FDP and Blume react.

• Porsche boss Oliver Blume says: He denies a close exchange with Lindner.

• FDP leader Christian Linder is accused of lobbying: he is said to have kept Porsche "up to date every hour" during the coalition negotiations.

• FDP reacts to the allegations: Lindner's position on e-fuels has been "known for years".

Update from July 24, 11:30 a.m .:

 The boss of the car manufacturer Porsche, Oliver Blume, has apologized for a statement about an allegedly very close exchange of content with FDP boss Christian Lindner.

Porsche boss Oliver Blume says: No close exchange with Lindner

In an internal event in relation to contacts on the subject of synthetic fuels, he chose "wrong words", said Blume of the

.

"It gave the wrong impression.

I'm sorry about that.” Starting in September, Blume will also be in charge of the Volkswagen Group in addition to the Porsche brand.

Bild reports on misdirected SMS between spokespersons from Lindner and Porsche

Update from July 24, 10:45 a.m .:

The

reports a misguided SMS from a Porsche spokesman to the newspaper, which should have originally been sent to a spokesman for Lindner.

The newspaper

takes this as an indication that the press spokesman are in very close contact and coordinate with inquiries - the newspaper concludes that Blume and Lindner could also maintain this close contact.

After the misdirected SMS became known, Porsche is said to have withdrawn its original harsh denial and instead chose the words: "As is well known, a satirical program enjoys freedom".

Originally, Porsche had announced: “The verbatim quote and the conversation did not exist.

maintains a good and constructive exchange with all relevant stakeholders - including politicians

.

FDP responds to allegations of lobbying against Lindner

Update from July 23, 4:38 p.m .:

The FDP has rejected allegations that the car manufacturer Porsche allegedly influenced party leader Christian Lindner on the question of the future of combustion engines during the coalition negotiations.

Lindner's position on the further use of synthetic fuels (e-fuels) has been "known for years," the party said on Saturday.

During the coalition negotiations in October, there was “only a short phone call” between the later Federal Minister of Finance and Porsche boss Oliver Blume “on questions about the use of e-fuels”.

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The

satirical magazine "Die Anstalt" published quotes from Blume from a works meeting in June this week.

Blume, who will become head of the Volkswagen Group on September 1, is said to have said that Porsche played a “very large part” in the further use of synthetically produced e-fuels for combustion engines being included in the coalition agreement.

Lindner "kept him up to date almost every hour".

A spokesman for Porsche AG expressed the company's regret to the "Welt am Sonntag" newspaper.

"During an internal event in June, exaggerated formulations were made, for which we apologize," he told the newspaper.

“The choice of words does not correspond to the facts.

The exchange did not take place and there was no influence.

An FDP spokesman said: "Lindner also telephoned the heads of vehicle manufacturers who do not support e-fuels".

"As far as we know, the companies have also held such talks with the negotiators of the coalition partners.

In view of the importance of the German automotive industry, on whose future the jobs of millions of employees depend directly and indirectly, this is also correct.”

However, the Left Party warned of a threat to democracy.

"It cannot be that the Porsche boss was apparently better informed about the status of the coalition negotiations than the rest of the population," said the parliamentary director of the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Jan Korte, of the "Welt am Sonntag".

"That would further undermine democracy." The matter has "at least one 'taste'".

Influence of Porsche boss on finance minister Christian Lindner?

First report from July 22, 11:29 a.m .:

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 outgoing Porsche boss Oliver Blume with spicy statements about his influence on the finance minister of the traffic light coalition.

Blume is to become the successor to the previous VW boss Herbert Diess from September, as the group surprisingly announced on Friday evening (July 22nd).

Porsche boss according to ZDF: Lindner kept him "almost every hour up to date"

During the Porsche 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

on request: “There was no such exchange.

It is true that the company generally 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 the insistence of Germany, 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.

A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Finance said about the statements in the ZDF program: "Mr. Lindner's position on e-fuels has been known for years.

Accordingly, in June of this year, Mr. Lindner spoke publicly about the end of the combustion engine planned by the EU and acted within the federal government.

There was no previous contact with Mr. Blume and no other influence whatsoever.”

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.”

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 the wrong time for VW and 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.