Enlarge image
President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution Thomas Haldenwang
Photo: Kay Nietfeld/ DPA
In the future, the federal intelligence services will be allowed to spend significantly more on hospitality than the usual 30 euros per person, at least for “occasions of special importance”.
The Federal Chancellery informed the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the Federal Intelligence Service and the Military Counterintelligence Service in letters classified as secret.
The reason for the change by the Federal Government is that the Federal Court of Auditors, which examines the expenditure of all authorities, criticized the Office for the Protection of the Constitution because the costs were too high at a conference.
SPIEGEL reported on this at the beginning of November.
In September last year, a delegation from a foreign intelligence service was lavishly entertained at this event.
Costs of 143 euros per person were incurred for dinner, and even 203 euros per person for lunch on a specially rented catamaran, i.e. up to 577 percent more than actually allowed.
The parliamentary control body of the Bundestag, which controls the work of the intelligence services, then advocated allowing the presidents of the intelligence services "discretionary leeway" on such occasions.
Foreign services are much more generous than the German ones.
akm/mba