AOn Friday, the investigative committee of the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament will deal with the flood night from July 14th to 15th, 2021 in the Ahr Valley. 134 people died and more than 700 were injured. Anne Spiegel, today’s Federal Minister for Family Affairs, has to answer for her crisis management. At that time, the Green politician was still the environment minister in the traffic light cabinet of Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD). Have your house and the State Office for the Environment (LfU) failed? At least that’s what the investigations by the parliamentarians and the investigations by the Koblenz public prosecutor suggest.
Review: The LfU is said to have reported water levels that were far too low, which led the fire brigade and the crisis management team in the Ahrweiler district to assume that the flood situation would be relaxed. According to a press release from the Ministry of July 14th around 4:43 p.m no extreme floods were expected.
Already at 6 p.m however, this was outdated. The responsible state secretary Erwin Manz (Greens) is said to have written to employees of the press office: There was an extreme event on the Ahr, a campsite there had been evacuated. That reports the FAZ and refers to circles of the committee of inquiry with reference to e-mail logs. When asked by a press office employee whether something had to be done about it, Manz is said to have replied: “Not today”.
Confronted with this, the Ministry of the Environment said on Tuesday: It is true that State Secretary Manz came to the conclusion around 6 p.m. that “the press release sent at 4:43 p.m. was outdated”. However, the statement that there was “nothing to do” only referred to the question of whether another press release might be useful. “The information of the emergency services on site, who are responsible for warning the population, was and is ensured at all times via the reporting chain.” Press releases are not part of the reporting route.
October 2021: Anne Spiegel with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the Ahr Valley
Source: pa/Geisler-Fotopress/Christoph Hardt/Geisler-Fotopress
Further chat logs could become explosive, those of the FAZ and the Focus present. For today’s Federal Family Minister Anne Spiegel and one of her employees at the time, on the morning of 15th of July in particular, the concern that she could be blamed for the disaster and be marginalized within the state government.
Accordingly, Spiegel wrote to the employees of the press office, “The blame game could start immediately, we need wording that we warned in good time, we have always made all data transparent, I warned the cabinet what would happen without our preventive measures and precautionary measures would have gotten worse etc.” Spiegel continued: “I trust Roger (Lewentz) that he says the catastrophe could have been prevented or would not have gotten so bad if we, the Ministry of the Environment, had warned earlier, and that it is up to us lies because we would have underestimated the situation etc.”.
The situation is “very serious”
before, um just after 6 p.m in the morning, an employee of the press office of the Ministry of the Environment had written to Spiegel via SMS: The situation was “very serious”. The disaster had been declared in several counties, and people were missing. An almost identical SMS was sent to Spiegel’s press spokesman at the time, Dietmar Brück, who is now deputy spokesman for the state government of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Brück then wrote to Spiegel and the press officer: The heavy rain event would be “the dominant topic”, “Anne needs a credible role”, it should “not look like instrumentalization”. The “sympathy makes MP” (Prime Minister Malu Dreyer), but information on the flood situation and warnings could come from the Ministry of the Environment.
One must be careful that the coalition partner SPD does not rush away politically alone with a five-point plan on how to deal with heavy rain in the future. “We have to do that; and think for yourself,” he said in his SMS. Spiegel replied: “That coincides with my thoughts.”
The spokesman suggested: “In my opinion, Anne’s role must always be linked to a specific role or responsibility, it must not look like political instrumentalization.” Um 8:07 a.m Mirror agreed.
The FAZ also confronted the Ministry of the Environment with this. The answer: in the committee of inquiry, Spiegel would “comment on all questions that concern her personal perception.” Out of respect for the parliamentary procedure, one does not want to anticipate this process.
The CDU finds this “shameful and undignified”.
the criticism However, at the time Minister of the Environment in Rhineland-Palatinate is already great.
CDUGroup leader Christian Baldauf criticized: “Spiegel puts the media performance and power-political tactics above the plight of the people in the Ahr Valley. That is shameful and unworthy of a minister.” The chairman of the largest opposition faction in the committee of inquiry, Dirk Herber (CDU), demanded from Spiegel a “complete clarification with regard to your crisis management in the night of the flood”. Spiegel should also disclose all contacts with the Ministry of the Interior during the disaster.
The representative of free voter in the committee of inquiry, Stephan Wefelscheid emphasized that he could not comment on the authenticity of the chats. But if the documents are genuine, “this throws a frightening picture of the moral constitution of the minister”. “The first thought should not be about one’s own image, but about averting the dangerous situation.”
According to the AfDGroup leader Michael Frisch, who is also a member of the committee of inquiry, confirms Spiegel’s communication “the worst assumptions about politicians who are more interested in their own advancement than in the well-being of the citizens”.
The minister was defended by her party members. The leader of the faction greensParliamentary group Bernhard Braun spoke of a “malicious campaign” to thwart the investigative committee’s previous investigative work. The previous witness statements in the investigative committee had clearly shown: “The warnings were all there, even on site. Also the authorities responsible for civil protection, who were responsible for the operation management,” said Braun, who is also a member of the committee. “The Ministry of the Environment cannot interfere with the responsibilities of the civil protection authorities. Based on the feedback, there was certainty that all the information was available on site.”
No official comment on the logs
Spiegel’s ministry in Berlin referred a reaction to the environment ministry in Mainz. This was initially not expressed. The press spokesman from the published chat logs could not be reached at first either. Lewentz’s Ministry of the Interior also does not comment on investigation files from ongoing proceedings. “This also applies to reporting on non-public files of the committee of inquiry,” said his ministry.