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Federal Development Minister Müller is said to have preferred his wife on business flights. Opposition MPs, on the other hand, were neither removed nor discharged again, according to a media report. Müller denies it.
The Development Ministry has rejected criticism of the accompaniment of Minister Gerd Müller by his wife on trips abroad. “It is true that the minister was accompanied by his wife on his trips to Africa and in crisis and refugee areas, which members of the government can do,” said a spokesman for the dpa news agency.
“Bild am Sonntag” had previously reported that Müller was being criticized for taking his wife with him on trips abroad on government machines. Gertie Müller-Hoorens has accompanied her husband on seven trips since the 2017 federal elections. Müller is said to be the only cabinet minister to take the opportunity to take his wife with him into the government machine. It is unclear how much he paid for the trips.
Isn’t it a disadvantage for the deputies?
The ministry spokesman said Müller had been accompanied by his wife on the government plane five times during this legislative period and four times on a scheduled flight on his own. All costs incurred, for example, visas, hotel and meals, as well as the proportional flight costs for the preparation of the flight were paid according to the maximum rate of 100 percent.
According to the report, opposition MPs stayed behind when traveling. The development policy spokespersons of the FDP and the Greens had not been offered any participation in a business trip abroad during this legislative period. Müller’s spokesman stressed to the dpa that “accompanying the wife does not influence the possibility of specialized politicians traveling.” Journalists and experts regularly participate in the trips. Several deputies from opposition factions also accompanied the minister.
“It is not an invitation”
Christoph Hoffmann, development policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, told “Bild am Sonntag” that “there was not a single invitation” during the entire legislative period. “I mentioned it several times.” Hoffmann criticized that Müller does no service to development policy if it systematically excludes parliamentarians from information on the ground.
Greens development policy spokesman Uwe Kekeritz has not been able to accompany Müller once since 2014, the newspaper reported. During a trip, there was no seat left on the government plane for the SPD coalition partner: the SPD parliamentary group’s development policy spokesperson, Sascha Raabe, was invited to the trip to Africa in February 2020, but was again downloaded shortly after.
