absence criticism
Committee meeting on Schönbohm’s dismissal: Faeser should come
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 still controversial today. There has long been a dispute about questioning the responsible interior minister in the Bundestag. Now Faeser has to answer questions.
Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) is now to testify at short notice in the Bundestag Interior Committee on the controversial dismissal of cyber security chief Arne Schönbohm.
Despite resistance from the coalition, deputy committee chairman Lars Castellucci (SPD) has invited the committee to a meeting on Thursday morning (7:30 a.m.). The only item on the agenda that can be found on Parliament’s website is a report by the minister on the Schönbohm case. First the “world” had reported about it.
Faeser dismissed Schönbohm as head of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) last year. He therefore demands compensation. The minister, who is running as the SPD’s top candidate in the upcoming state elections in Hesse, should therefore be questioned about her actions in the interior committee on Tuesday, but canceled her participation in the meeting.
criticism from the opposition
This was mainly criticized by the opposition because Faeser gave an interview to the German Press Agency that morning. The day after, Union faction leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) ironically addressed her behavior at the start of the general debate in the Bundestag: “Thank you for being here this morning, Ms. Faeser,” said Merz smugly, “after you called in sick yesterday and in Wiesbaden have given dpa interviews.”
Her ministry referred to “an important doctor’s appointment as a result of her surviving corona infection” in her home town of Hesse. “Because she could not be in Berlin yesterday morning for this reason, she was excused in the German Bundestag.”
The coalition initially rejected the Union’s demand for a special session of the committee on Wednesday. “Since yesterday, there have been no new findings that would justify the committee considering it again,” said a statement distributed by the SPD parliamentary group. According to the rules of procedure of the Bundestag, however, a convocation at the earliest possible date is obligatory “if a parliamentary group in the committee or at least one third of the members of the committee requests it, stating the agenda”.
Schönbohm is accused of having contacts with Russia
That’s why Faeser must now answer the questions from the MPs about the Schönbohm cause. 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 committee meeting 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 domestic spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, Gottfried Curio, explained: “With the instrumentalization of the protection of the constitution outside of its area of responsibility for the purpose of investigating unwelcome officials, there is now even an abuse of office by the minister in the room.”
The Left Chairwoman Janine Wissler also took the view on Wednesday that the minister had to explain herself about this process: “That Nancy Faeser called in sick for yesterday’s meeting of the Interior Committee in the Bundestag so that she didn’t have to answer critical questions, but at the same time election campaign in Hesse casts a devastating light on them and shatters their credibility.”