Norwegian debate, Angela Merkel | Merkel’s nightmare: Incompetent ministers and corrupt politicians

Last week’s scandal had simmered for a few days, after the news that deputy chairman Georg Nüsslein of the Bundestag’s Christian Democratic group (CSU and CDU) last spring had earned six to seven million kroner from mediating the sale of FFP2 masks to the government. Nüsslein used his political influence to contact those in charge of the Ministry of Health to get them to order heavily overpriced masks from subcontractors in his constituency.

The leaders of the two sister parties managed to downplay the matter until it became known on Thursday that another colleague from the CDU / CSU group in the Bundestag had spent two to three million kroner in the same way. “My profits were just ordinary market prices,” said Nikolas Löbel (34) – and reaped a shit-storm of the rare.

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Will be

During Sunday, both declared that they are resigning from all political positions – but that they will continue the election period as regular members of the Bundestag. Put another way: High salaries and many privileges – not least obese pension points – they will not give up.

For the time being, it does not seem to impress any of them that party chairmen and party secretaries are both directly asking to resign and leave Berlin.

Voters’ reaction came quickly in the form of a massive decline in opinion polls. This weekend there are state elections in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. Both states are ruled by popular prime ministers who are both going to make it so sharp that the results can not be used as a measuring instrument for currents on a national basis. The Social Democrats (SPD) are with Malu Dreyer in Rhineland-Palatinate at around 30 percent, while in Winfried Kretschmann’s Baden-Württemberg they are at over 30 percent for the green father and less than 10 percent for the SPD.

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To punish

One of the big questions will not be about but how brutally the voters will punish the Christian Democrats in the two states.

One year ago, the CDU / CSU was at a comfortable 40 per cent nationwide, but has recently dropped to 32 per cent. If the trend continues – in combination with the Greens growing strongly – the dream that Angela Merkel’s successor will also come from the CDU can quickly come to an end. Many Christian Democrats’ biggest nightmare at the moment seems to be the idea of ​​having to play little sister in a green-led coalition.

No one is yet talking loudly about the possibility that the CDU may shrink so strongly that it ends up on the opposition bench in the Bundestag. But even this option is starting to become visible.

Dissatisfaction with political Germany’s handling of the pandemic is becoming increasingly audible, as most things have gone – and are going – wrong with both vaccination and the acquisition of material for rapid testing. While Minister of Health Jens Spahn is trying to shift the responsibility for his own fads onto Merkel and the 16 prime ministers, he must now find himself being designated a scapegoat.

Here you can read more posts by Asbjørn Svarstad.

Helan and Halvan

On Friday, Angela Merkel announced that the government has appointed a “task force” that will ensure the purchase of plenty of quick tests – so that all Germans in the near future can get at least one free test a week. Minister of Health Jens Spahn and the government’s other unlucky bird – Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer – were appointed to lead the work.

The CSU profile Scheuer has gained a reputation for being the man who managed to inflict a billion loss on the state in the wake of the European Court of Justice stopping the introduction of user fees on German motorways – and then lying so it splashed during its explanations to the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry.

The Observatory’s verdict came quickly and mercilessly: When the government’s response to Helan and Halvan – over the next two to three weeks – has had its mission hit the wall, Merkel will fire them with bargains and hugs – as she is known for to do it with people who do not want to hear.

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The top of an iceberg?

Not before were the two Christian Democratic representatives with huge extra income from mask sales released, so spokesmen for the opposition parties wanted to know if the CDU / CSU leader knows of more who exploited last year’s purchasing chaos in the same way. From the party Die Linke, there is now talk of networks in the Bundestag by CDU representatives who systematically provide themselves and their friends with extra income of the kind that can be confusingly similar to corruption.

Should there be more revelations during the current week, the Christian Democrats can look forward to a couple of really unpleasant setbacks during this weekend’s state elections. Voters’ rage, however, will not be over with a regional protest – but rather the beginning of a grassroots uprising against the Berlin elite, the government and the prime ministers.

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Unpopular Angela

Six years ago, within a few months, Angela Merkel went from being by far Germany’s most popular politician to becoming one of the country’s most hated during the refugee crisis. The first months of the Covid campaign under Merkel’s leadership brought her back to the top of the popularity polls. But now the head of government is once again on the downhill slope of opinion polls.

Merkel will have to deliver in a hurry, make sure that millions of vaccines already delivered finally reach the many centers that have been built around the states and to fulfill the promise of providing plenty of rapid tests. At the same time, she has to deal with a pandemic with rising infection rates and more and more British mutants in combination with a “cautious” reopening of society.

Here you can read more posts from the Norwegian debate.

Carry the pole

The rules are different in each state, and the frustration over obviously unreasonable measures makes the protests increasingly audible – as parts of the business community go bankrupt and hundreds of thousands lose their jobs and income. In such a situation, it becomes explosive that “those in Berlin” come up with nothing better to do during the disaster than to plunder the treasury – and at the same time confirm the worst conspiracy theorists’ gloomy claims.

If Erna Solberg at the moment should think that she is carrying a heavy burden, she can take a look at her German colleague and draw a sigh of relief. Because if anyone carries a pole during the day, it’s Merkel.

PS: While Nikolas Löbel has now withdrawn completely and also resigned from the CDU, the CSU management is exerting massive pressure to force Georg Nüsslein to leave parliament immediately – and to give his extra income to a good cause.

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