absence criticism
“Thank you for being here this morning, Ms. Faeser”
The Union continues to insist on clarification by Nancy Faeser because of the controversial dismissal of cyber security chief Arne Schönbohm. photo
© Boris Roessler/dpa
The dismissal of BSI boss Schönbohm is controversial. The interior minister should therefore answer questions from the Bundestag interior committee. The cancellation of the appointment brings her new trouble.
The minister, who is running as SPD top candidate in the upcoming state elections in Hesse, had canceled her participation in the committee meeting the day before – which was mainly criticized in the Union because Faeser gave an interview to the German Press Agency that morning . Several media had previously reported about it. Her ministry referred to “an important doctor’s appointment that was in her hometown as a result of her surviving corona infection. Because she could not be in Berlin yesterday morning for this reason, she was excused in the German Bundestag”.
Faeaser is to clarify Schönbohm’s dismissal
Because of the controversial dismissal of cyber security chief Arne Schönbohm, the CDU and CSU are insisting on clarification by Faeser and are calling for a special meeting of the internal committee after their cancellation. The domestic political spokesman for the Union faction, Alexander Throm (CDU), told the newspaper “Welt” that he assumed that the meeting would have to be scheduled for this week.
However, the traffic light coalition rejects this. “The coalition factions do not agree with the renewed desire for another special session (…),” says a statement distributed by the SPD parliamentary group, which is available to the German Press Agency and about which “Welt” first reported . “There have been no new findings since yesterday that would justify a new referral to the committee.”
Schönbohm is accused of having contacts with Russia
Faeser dismissed Schönbohm as head of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) last year. He therefore demands compensation. According to his lawyer, his lawsuit is related to the actions of the federal government after the broadcast of an episode of the satirical program “ZDF Magazin Royale”.
In it, Schönbohm was accused of being too close to an association with alleged contacts to Russian secret services. According to “Welt”, the special session requested by the Union should deal with the question of whether Faeser used information from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution to recall Schönbohm.
The Left Chairwoman Janine Wissler is also of the opinion that the Interior Minister must explain herself because of this process: “The fact that Nancy Faeser called in sick for yesterday’s meeting of the Interior Committee in the Bundestag in order not to have to answer critical questions, but at the same time to campaign in Hesse made, casts a devastating light on them and shatters their credibility.”