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The only message for this day is: Nikolas Löbel’s political career is not over. At least not yet. The young CDU deputy obviously wants to save what can be saved. An installment withdrawal, that’s his idea, despite the scandal surrounding his mask deal, which is currently hitting the Union to the core.
Löbel was leaving the Bundestag faction immediately, his office announced in the morning. But it was said that he would not resign his mandate until August 31. A few more months in parliament can contribute thousands of euros to Löbel in allowances and temporary payments.
A politician who surrenders because he has enriched himself with the crisis of the crown and then gets paid again? It’s definitely too much for conservatives.
CDU politician Löbel: Member of Parliament until the end of August?
Photo: Christian Spicker / imago images / Christian Spicker
Andreas Jung, head of the Baden-Württemberg regional group in the Bundestag, is one of those drawing a red line: “A hard cut” is inevitable, he said on Sunday. Löbel had to resign his mandate in the Bundestag – “immediately”.
In the end, those who probably know him best also oppose Löbel. The Mannheim CDU district executive committee, whose head was Löbel until that day, met for about three hours. According to a committee resolution, Löbel should relinquish all positions and mandates by March 31 at the latest. “To save everyone involved in an unnecessary hanging party.”
Löbel is silent on this requirement at the moment. Participants report that he turned off the camera on the district executive’s video switch after a statement at the beginning.
But one thing is clear: the pressure on the 34-year-old is enormous.
250,000 euros for mask treatment
At least this time, it cannot be said that the Conservatives are silencing the matter. As well as? The Löbel case underscores a grim image of Union members who are using the fight against a historic crisis to fend for themselves.
Löbel had confirmed to SPIEGEL that last year he had raised around 250,000 euros for the purchase of protective crown masks.
For days the Union has been in the headlines because of other greedy MPs. Karlsruhe MP Axel Fischer is said to have lobbied for money for the Azerbaijani regime. The prosecution is investigating CSU politician Georg Nüßlein on suspicion of corruption and tax evasion. He too had probably charged for expensive mask contracts. On Sunday evening, Nüßlein announced his departure from the parliamentary group.
Then there are the memories of Philipp Amthor and his commitment to the American company Augustus Intelligence. These are individual cases, it was initially said in the Union. “Black sheep”. In Amthor, whose affair, of course, is not directly comparable to the current troubles, they were obviously still trying to sit on the sidelines. Meanwhile, the 28-year-old has even been nominated as the CDU’s top candidate for federal elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
But the Löbel case at the latest makes it increasingly difficult for conservatives to counter criticism of a black swamp of lobbying, corruption and greed.
“Then you have to throw them away”
Numerous federal and state politicians stayed away from Löbel and the others over the weekend. Such behavior damages “the reputation of politics as a whole,” Union faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus and his deputy Alexander Dobrindt said on Friday.
“Deeply indecent” is self-enrichment, wrote CDU Secretary General Paul Ziemiak on Twitter. JU chief Tilman Kuban became even clearer: Anyone who lines his pockets when people need him “does not belong to a German parliament,” Kuban rumbled. “And if they don’t want to go, you have to kick them out.”
On Sunday, party leader Armin Laschet finally spoke, from whom very little has been heard on this matter. “Anyone who, as a representative of the people, tries to earn money for himself personally in this crisis has to leave parliament immediately,” Laschet told the “Südkurier”. “Every deputy who enriches himself in and during the crisis damages the greatest good of democracy: trust.”
Dangerous for the Union
The reactions show: The matter is extremely dangerous for the Union, first of all for the two associations of the Southwest. On March 14, there will be new elections in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg. Even before the latest scandals, the CDU was threatened with disaster. Polls see Christian Democrats in both countries at less than 30 percent.
For weeks now, conservatives in the federal government have been discussing a horror scenario that is now becoming more and more likely: that in the future a traffic light made up of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP will rule not only Mainz but also in Stuttgart. It goes without saying that this model would almost inevitably become more popular at the federal level again.
Georg Nüßlein, CSU member: Prosecutor determined
Photo: Soeren Stache / dpa
“If we don’t clean it up, the voters will punish us for it,” says a CDU deputy in the face of the incidents in the parliamentary group.
After all, the Union is already in dire straits anyway. Above all, it is the members of your government who are massively criticized for various mishaps and poor planning during the crisis: Chancellor Angela Merkel, Health Minister Jens Spahn, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier. In addition, there is the Minister of Transport, Andreas Scheuer, permanently registered.
Chancellor Candidate in Crisis
National polls don’t bode well for conservatives, either. And all at a time that could hardly be more explosive for the CDU and CSU. In the coming weeks, both parties of the Union want to clarify their most important personnel problem: the candidate for chancellor.
Now the free choice of the future top candidate threatens to fall in the middle of a deep crisis for the conservatives. This is a problem especially for Laschet, the frontrunner to succeed Merkel. He, who seemed to stabilize a bit, is now caught in a dangerous hangover.
Are Löbel and company seriously shaking up the Union?
In any case, there is a real panic in the party and the parliamentary groups this weekend. Laschet and the leader of the Brinkhaus parliamentary group are in constant contact, it is said. They recognized the explosiveness of the situation and internally urged at all levels that Löbel resign from his mandate with immediate effect, say the confidants. He wants to get rid of the case as soon as possible.
But it is certainly not that simple. Especially since no one knows how many similar issues could be exposed.
Laschet’s competitor, Markus Söder, is also under increasing pressure. After the allegations against his CSU party colleague Nüßlein became known, the Bavarian prime minister was “out of his mind,” it is said. But he also stops for a long time in public. On Sunday, Söder commented on the situation. “People’s representatives should not be tolerated turning the crisis into business,” he writes. “This is incompatible with the fundamental values of the Union.”
Söder fears lasting damage to the image of the CSU. The Nüßlein case brings up unpleasant memories of the old Amigo era under CSU superfather Franz-Josef Strauss. Furthermore, Söder has expected a lot from citizens and businesses with his tough Corona course. The fact that someone in their ranks is profiting from the crisis could have consequences.
As of now, the AfD no longer needs an electoral program, says one from the CSU parliamentary group. “It is a penalty that you shoot at your opponent’s goal.”
