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Minister Huml on the way to the committee of inquiry: "There was almost nothing"
Photo:
Angelika Warmuth / dpa
"Professionally, I'm a doctor and a member of parliament," says the witness.
Address currently available for loading: the Bavarian State Chancellery.
A long day in Munich's Maximilianeum begins with the personal details of Melanie Huml.
The committee of inquiry is asking what role the responsible ministers played in the procurement of corona protective masks - and whether they were aware of dubious deals.
Huml, now Europe Minister in Markus Söder's cabinet, led the Bavarian Ministry of Health during the peak phase of the pandemic.
In January 2021 she was replaced by her successor Klaus Holetschek.
This Monday from half past nine in the morning to quarter to six in the afternoon she reports on her view of what happened during the "bandemia" - she pronounces the word in Franconian dialect with soft consonants.
Tenor: Back then, it was about getting as many masks as possible as quickly as possible in an emergency.
There were hardly any alternatives to the existing offers in the early phase.
This is also the overall line of defense of the Bavarian state government and the CSU, the opposition sees it very differently.
The committee of inquiry is about to end the hearing of evidence, with the last three witnesses Huml, Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger from the Free Voters and Söder Freitag.
The opposition speaks of a “showdown week” and the final report should be available around Easter.
"For life and death"
The picture after almost 50 sessions within six months: In spring 2020, the wild west prevailed when buying corona protective equipment.
Federal and state governments took what they could get at almost any price.
Resourceful profiteers took advantage of this and made fabulous deals with the need.
Andrea Tandler, daughter of a CSU grandee, received around 48 million euros in commissions for paving the way for the Swiss company Emix Trading to sell masks to the federal and state governments.
Bavaria paid the maximum price of 8.90 euros per piece.
The CSU MEP Monika Hohlmeier mediated the contact to the Bavarian Ministry of Health.
Alfred Sauter, member of the CSU state parliament at the time, and Georg Nüßlein, member of the Bundestag, also earned hundreds of thousands of euros by organizing masks from the Hessian company Lomotex.
The committee did not bring to light any other questionable deals of this dimension.
However, many emails, interventions and supplier tips came to light, which in retrospect make the politicians responsible look rather bad.
At least at the beginning of the pandemic, the art of government of the so proud Free State was not far off.
Former Minister of Health Huml begins her appearance with a 20-minute review of Corona: "It was an intense time that was challenging for all of us," says Huml.
Especially for her previously very small ministry: "We also all had to reorganize ourselves in this phase." Especially when it came to the procurement of protective equipment, it was "a matter of life and death".
Every hint, every contact was helpful.
»The market had collapsed worldwide, there was almost nothing.«
SMS from Hohlmeier
In March, Huml received a text message from her party friend Hohlmeier: “Dear Melanie, just wanted to ask you whether Bavaria needs protective masks because there are 1 million remaining items in Switzerland.
Urgent registration of interest necessary, as there are many inquiries.
I'm just the messenger of the message.
The dealer is a supplier for the Swiss army.
Claims normal prices.
I wanted to at least let you know that so you can decide if you should get in touch.
Thank you Monika.«
Huml referred her to the officer responsible and wrote: »It's nice that you thought of us.« The minister later replied »great interest«.
It was the door opener to the Emix business.
She interpreted Hohlmeier's text message as "a message that there could be an offer," Huml explained to the committee.
You forwarded it directly to the specialist level.
"We didn't have many other offers at the time." And: "I neither know Ms. Tandler, nor have I ever spoken to her."
Note from the ski instructor
Personally more uncomfortable for the minister is an offer that ultimately did not lead to a deal.
A company contacted Huml's sons' ski instructor.
Huml's husband then emailed the tip to the ministry.
Huml herself asked several times what had happened to the offer, she also called her head of office.
Her husband "acted as a citizen" when he passed the tip on, Huml defends himself.
And: "I didn't conduct any negotiations." However, when asked, she could not name any other case in which she was involved in a similar way.
Huml's statement makes it clear that those in power did inquire about individual deliveries: Söder asked Huml how the procurement was going.
She asked at the technical level.
Huml asked Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) what was wrong with the special approval for an Emix delivery.
And Söder received a batch at Munich Airport that a Passau entrepreneur had procured.
Whistleblower at the time: Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer, who was also present in the airport photo.
It later turned out that the goods had defects.
Were MPs given preferential treatment?
The opposition sees this as a system: "What came from MPs was treated with priority," according to Green Party chairman Florian Siekmann.
In contrast, the procurement structure was neglected.
"The whole pandemic management was more appearance than reality." By the time a ministerial support group was finally set up, several thousand unanswered emails had accumulated.
A document that is thrown on the wall in the committee enlarged in the picture should also go down in the history of Bavaria's Corona management: A note written in spidery handwriting with the names of eleven companies and people, which Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger wrote in green ministerial ink on a small one had written on a note: the names should be called regularly and asked for masks.
Some of those named belonged to the Free Electors.
After a long wait, Aiwanger contests the second part of the mammoth session in the evening after Huml.
He defends himself against accusations of nepotism and against the hindsight that characterizes the committee of inquiry.
Those critics who followed suit now would not have helped at the time.
According to Aiwanger, one had to take into account which offers promised any deals at all.
“I never got a cent or any other perk anywhere,” says the Deputy Prime Minister.
"I personally went ahead and took responsibility."