Transport Minister Volker Wissing is said to have also awarded positions without advertising.Image: dpa / Kay Nietfeld
Politics
The focus these days was once again on Economics Minister Robert Habeck. He is accused of so-called nepotism – with the Amigo network around the Green Secretary of State Patrick Graichen. Apparently, dubious allocations of posts and subsidies play a role.
Something similar is said to have happened to the FDP. At least that’s what the “Bild” newspaper reports, citing a small request from the Union faction that the newspaper has received.
In focus: the Ministry of Transport by Volker Wissing.
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Wissing is said to have awarded 18 posts without advertising
After Wissing took over the ministry, numerous top posts were filled. According to the request from the Union faction, the new appointments included many old FDP confidants, as reported by “Bild”.
According to the report, 18 positions are said to have been awarded without an advertisement. These are “basically” prescribed in the Federal Civil Servants Act.
According to “Bild” information, five of these posts are department head jobs. Among other things, Benjamin Brake is said to have received one of these posts. He heads the “Digital and Data Policy” department and was previously a lobbyist at the US IT company IBM.
At the start of the week, Volker Wissing advertised the 49-euro ticket with a symbolic subway ride in Berlin.Image: IMAGO / Jürgen Heinrich
He was also once a personal advisor to ex-FDP justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger.
Hartfrid Wolff, head of the communications department, was also a member of the Bundestag for the Free Democrats. Strategy coordinator Fabian Disselbeck (previously FDP office) and ex-FDP party spokeswoman Bettina Lauer are said to have been given a post in the Wissing Ministry.
According to “Bild”, the Ministry of Transport justified the lack of tenders with an “exception” in accordance with the “Career Ordinance”.
Union sharply criticizes Wissing
The Union clearly criticizes the actions of the FDP. Group manager Thorsten Frei emphasizes to the “Bild”:
“We have already seen in Habeck’s Ministry of Economic Affairs that political connections are decisive for the allocation of government posts. Overall, this seems to be a traffic light phenomenon and is a burden on their work.”
He demands: “This practice raises questions! The filling of these posts should be checked.”
Marc Biadacz, who sits on the digital committee for the CDU, takes a similar stance to “Bild”:
“The traffic light federal government is probably mainly hiring pats on the back. FDP Minister Volker Wissing should rather hire in his house according to qualifications than according to party membership. What happens if you only hire party friends can be seen, for example, in the minister’s stumbled digital policy.”
