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Members of the CDU and CSU Bundestag are strongly suspected of getting rich in business with protective crown masks. Criticisms of them were strong and also came from within their own ranks. For Georg Nüsslein and Nikolas Löbel, the issues spell the end of their partisan careers.
Nikolas Löbel at the Bundestag lectern. In 2017 he won the Mannheim constituency as a direct candidate.
The word “in line with the market” is likely to cling to the CDU member of the Bundestag, Nikolas Löbel for a long time. Last year, Löbel received a commission of 250,000 euros for the intermediation of FFP2 masks to an operator of nursing homes and a hospital company. He described the generous rate at “Spiegel” as “in line with the market.” However, the 34-year-old admitted that he acted insensitively. On Sunday he drew the consequences: he was withdrawing from the Bundestag faction of the CDU and the CSU with immediate effect, he wrote in a message. For him it is important “to avoid further damage to the party, the parliamentary group and all colleagues.” He resigned his mandate in the Bundestag at the end of August. In the upcoming federal elections in September, he no longer wants to run for his Mannheim constituency.
That Löbel wants to maintain his mandate annoys his former colleagues in the Union’s parliamentary group. Defense Minister and former CDU president Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer demanded that Löbel step down from parliament immediately. This also applies to CSU politician Georg Nüsslein, who is in trouble due to similar accusations and also announced his departure from the Union parliamentary group. The president of the CDU, Armin Laschet, told the “Südkurier”: “Anyone who, as a representative of the people, tries to make money personally in this crisis must leave the parliament immediately.” CSU chief Markus Söder made a similar statement. Andreas Jung, vice chairman of the Union’s parliamentary group, asked Löbel by letter to immediately resign from his mandate. CDU member of the Bundestag Matthias Hauer wrote on Twitter: “These people do not belong to parliament.” The fact that Löbel adhered to the mandate is proof of his “lack of aptitude of character.” If Löbel adheres to his announcement, he will receive the usual allowances and lump sums in the coming months, and an additional year will be credited to his retirement pension.
After the Corona outbreak in the spring of 2020, hospitals, medical practices, and nursing homes had very few FFP2s and surgical masks. In Germany and Switzerland, the state bought masks at extremely high prices. The Swiss army pharmacy, for example, paid the Zug-based company Emix almost ten francs per FFP2 mask. Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia ordered Emix for around nine to ten euros per mask. The accusations against Löbel, who received harsh criticism on Friday after his business became known, also fell during this period.
Junge Union head Tilman Kuban said that anyone who takes advantage of other people’s plight does not belong to parliament and certainly does not belong to the CDU and CSU faction. If politicians like Löbel do not go voluntarily, they must be “fired.” CDU Secretary General Paul Ziemiak wrote on Twitter that he had no understanding and that paying high commissions for the acquisition of masks to parliamentarians was “deeply indecent”. Ralph Brinkhaus, the head of the Union faction, made a similar statement.
“Unscrupulous vultures”
The opposition did not miss the opportunity to attack from the front: Carsten Schneider, parliamentary director of the SPD parliamentary group, spoke of “unscrupulous vultures” and a “broken moral compass”. Green MP Tobias Lindner reported that he too passed bids from mask makers last year. But the idea of charging commissions for this would never have occurred to him. The deputy head of the AfD parliamentary group, Sebastian Munzenmaier, wrote on Twitter: “How bold can you be in one of the biggest economic crises in the Federal Republic? It’s enough!”
The tone is also harsh because similar accusations against Georg Nüsslein have been in the room since the end of February. Until recently, Nüsslein was deputy chairman of the CDU and CSU parliamentary group. On Sunday night he withdrew from the parliamentary group after public pressure. The 51-year-old coach had already retired from the post of vice president on Friday and declared that he did not want to run for the Bundestag again. He had lifted his immunity last week. The Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating Nüsslein for bribery and bribery of elected officials. He had 13 objects in Germany and Liechtenstein searched for evidence, including Nüsslein’s office in the Bundestag and his constituency office in Günzburg, Bavaria.
Nüsslein’s lawyer says his client established contacts between federal procurement agencies and potential contractors. According to media reports, the Nüsslein consultancy Tectum Holding received a commission of 660,000 euros for this activity and was not taxed. Nüsslein rejected these accusations and spoke of a “public prejudice”. Like Löbel, he wants to maintain his mandate in the Bundestag until the end of the legislative term.
Matters come at an inopportune time
According to an old cliché, Union party politicians are very close to business and put private interests before the common good. Questionable mask shops are a grain of sand for those who see it as more than just a cliché. The issues come at an inopportune time for the Union, as state elections in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate are due to take place within a week. There is a particular malaise in the CDU. Susanne Eisenmann, the CDU’s top candidate in Baden-Württemberg, urged Löbel on Saturday to withdraw her candidacy in federal elections. The main candidate of the Rhineland-Palatinate CDU, Christian Baldauf, is said to have criticized Löbel in a videoconference with members of the Junge Union on Saturday, but fell short of publicly demanding his resignation.
The effects of the hideous protective mask commissions could become particularly dangerous to the Union if more entanglements were made public. Apparently, not only Löbel and Nüsslein from the CDU and CSU were involved in the mask business.
