In order to obtain further information on the dismissal of the former BSI boss Schönbohm, the Union had requested a meeting of the internal committee. Faeser was not present for “medical reasons”. The opposition is critical.
After Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) was absent from a meeting of the Interior Committee in the Bundestag on Tuesday, she came under criticism. The meeting on the affair surrounding the dismissal of Arne Schönbohm, the former head of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), had been requested by the Union. She now called for a second meeting.
“Thank you for being here this morning, Ms. Faeser,” said Union faction leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) smugly at the start of the general debate in the Bundestag. “After you called in sick yesterday and gave dpa interviews in Wiesbaden.”
Faeser was absent for “medical reasons”.
Faeser had apologized “for medical reasons”. Her ministry referred to “an important doctor’s appointment 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.”
The minister’s cancellation was met with criticism in the Union, mainly because Faeser gave an interview to the dpa news agency that morning.
Traffic light sees no reason for another session
However, the traffic light coalition initially rejected the second meeting demanded by the Union. “The coalition factions do not agree with the renewed request for another special session (…),” said a statement distributed by the SPD faction. “There have been no new findings since yesterday that would justify a new referral to the committee.”
The cancellation was then criticized by both the Union and the left. The request for a special session of the committee is a minority right laid down in the rules of procedure, said the domestic political spokesman for the Union faction, Alexander Throm (CDU), the “world”. The question increasingly arises as to what the minister and the traffic light coalition have to hide.
Left party leader Janine Wissler said there was serious suspicion that Faeser “hasty and dismissed an official without adequate examination” and “then instructed the domestic secret service to find reasons for their decision afterwards”.
As the AFP news agency later reported, citing coalition circles, the traffic light then agreed out of respect for the minority rights of the Union faction. In the late afternoon, Deputy Committee Chairman Lars Castellucci hosted a meeting of the Interior Committee. According to the agenda published on the Internet, the only item on the committee’s agenda is Faeser’s report “on her official behavior to justify official measures against Mr. Schönbohm”.
Union wants to clarify questions about Schönbohm and Faeser
Faeser dismissed Schönbohm as head of the 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.