Explosive research
Lindner’s #PorscheGate: The network reacts to the clique allegations about the Federal Minister of Finance
Christian Lindner makes himself comfortable – here in a Porsche SC
© Dennis Williamson / VISA
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner is said to have worked more closely with Porsche than is due. That’s the allegation that’s currently floating around. What happened? A little chronology.
The accusation has it all. Germany’s Finance Minister Christian Lindner is said to have maintained extremely close contacts with the automotive industry. At least that’s what Porsche boss Oliver Blume is said to have claimed at an internal meeting. Lindner kept him up to date on the coalition negotiations “almost every hour”. The explosive statement was made public by the ZDF satirical program “Die Anstalt”.
“We played a very large part in the fact that e-fuels were included in the coalition agreement. We were a main driver there, with very close contact with the coalition parties,” said Blume. To many, that smacks of influence. How much say did the car manufacturers have in political decisions? The reactions on the internet were not long in coming: the hashtag #PorscheGate is trending.
The Federal Minister of Finance himself did not hesitate, denied brusquely. Lindner acted in accordance with his position on e-fuels, his team announced via Twitter. There was no contact with Blume or any kind of influence.
The Volkswagen Group seems to be taking the hype rather calmly and didn’t even try to explain on Twitter, but with a rather sardonic joke. According to the post, Christian Lindner is known to be a Porsche fan. The company is happy about that. “But there was no live ticker. Wink smiley.” Well, what now? Contact or no contact? Little or a lot?
And Porsche? “There was no such exchange,” the “Spiegel” quoted a statement from the company as saying. It is true that the company generally maintains a constructive exchange with all relevant stakeholders. A rogue who, with such statements, wonders what form of exchange took place instead, if not “like this”. In any case, the editors behind the ZDF research relied on available evidence to support Blume’s tricky statements at the Porsche works meeting. It seems that this is not a problem at VW, to which Porsche belongs. In line with the #PorscheGate, Blume is promoted one position up. As was announced yesterday, Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess is surprisingly resigning from his post. Guess who’s taking over. Exactly. The stock exchange did not exactly acknowledge this with benevolence. VW shares fell 3 percent.
Some people remember Lindner’s statements from the gray past these days. In 2017, the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Weil, was pilloried when documents became public that were supposed to prove that a VW board member was said to have co-written government statements on the exhaust gas scandal. The “Bild am Sonntag” reported at the time. It was Lindner who approached Weil on Twitter at the time, raising the question of whether his interests were actually louder.
If (to put it neutrally) we work together so closely, why not, some ask, in the interests of support for climate protection? The proposal: permanent line to climate scientists instead of corporate bosses.
While the cause around Porsche and Lindner is currently making viral waves, someone else is taking a rather calm tone, as some Twitter users claim to have noticed: the Springer press. And they also have an answer ready as to what they think might be the reason.
Or like it another user put it: “It’s practically a marriage like that. Lindner can simply incorporate the interests of Porsche into the coalition agreement and Springer Verlag doesn’t say a word about it…” It was not until the beginning of July that the Federal Minister of Finance married the journalist Franca Lehfeldt on Sylt. A pompous celebration that annoyed many in the current difficult economic times. Lehfeldt was at RTL for five years, most recently as chief reporter at Polit-Magazine. She now works for the news channel “Welt”, also as a chief political reporter. The car they got into after the wedding? Of course, a Porsche.
In addition to the hashtag #PorscheGate, another has long since spread on Twitter – #lindnerruecktritt. The Federal Minister of Finance is counted. At least in virtual space.
Source: “The Institution”, mirrorTwitter