Trust in fair decision-making processes is crucial for a functioning democracy. With the 2024 report, Lobbycontrol draws a positive interim conclusion after a good two years of traffic light government.
It was in 2020. The Berlin CDU with its then state chairman and current governing mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) suddenly received a large donation – a total of 820,000 euros, donated by real estate entrepreneur Christoph Gröner. The money comes in two transfers: 320,000 euros from the private individual Gröner and 500,000 euros via his Gröner Family Office GmbH.
In the end, both donations together account for almost a fifth of the CDU state association’s total income. The fact that such donations are still possible without an upper limit is currently the biggest deficit when it comes to lobby regulation in Germany, says Aurel Eschmann, co-author of the lobby report from the Lobbycontrol association. “This means that money is linked to political influence to an unlimited extent; that shouldn’t be the case,” says Eschmann. “Negative examples such as the case surrounding Christoph Gröner’s party donation to the Berlin CDU make this problem all too clear. And here too it becomes clear that rules are worthless if they are not enforced or controlled.”
It wasn’t just the amount that made headlines. But also that Gröner probably linked this donation to specific demands, as he himself said in an interview. However, donations in anticipation of a benefit are not permitted in Germany. However, in July 2023, the Bundestag administration stopped examining the process. The fact of an influence donation has not been confirmed.
Many positive developments
There are also many positive developments in the 2024 lobby report. The report sees “Germany finally on the way to modern lobbying rules”.
Under the pressure of the lobby scandals of the previous election period, such as the mask scandal, the traffic light coalition introduced many new rules for lobbying. For example, when it comes to party financing, when changing sides or against corruption among members of parliament.
Timo Lange, an expert in lobby regulation and co-author of the lobby report, says: “The traffic light coalition’s record in transparency and lobby regulation is certainly impressive after a good two years in government. The lobby register has been reformed and there is finally a lobby footprint for laws.”
These are two important elements for more transparent politics. “Even with the comprehensive reform of parliamentary law and some improvements in the transparency of party financing, Germany is now finally on the way to a modern regulatory framework for transparency and integrity in politics,” says Lange.
Conflicts of interest in Federal ministries
But the report continues to list inadequate handling of conflicts of interest in federal ministries. In this election period alone there were several prominent cases of personal connections, such as the Graichen case in the Ministry of Economic Affairs or Bonhoff in the Ministry of Transport.
There is still a lot of catching up to do when it comes to compliance rules, i.e. for financial matters such as paid speaking engagements or corporate investments by high-ranking political decision-makers. The report calls for quick adjustments here.
“Anyone who is familiar with compliance rules from larger companies will be surprised at how compliance issues are handled in the federal ministries. The fact that members of the federal government and political officials do not even have to report private financial interests or company holdings is simply no longer up to date.” said report co-author Timo Lange.