AfD wants to concern minister for tax waste

The alternative for Germany wants to drag former Federal Minister in court if they waste “grossly negligent” or “deliberately” tax money. This provides for a draft law that will be discussed in the Bundestag on Thursday evening. According to this, a liability of Federal Minister is to be introduced in the event of violations of the duty.

Again and again, it is in the application, there are state wrong decisions, “the specific decision -makers can be attributed and the taxpayers cost many millions or even billions”. The procurement of Corona masks by the former Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn or the toll affair by the former CSU transport minister Alexander Dobrindt and Andreas Scheuer are mentioned there.

In both cases, there is at least grossly negligent behavior for the AfD. “It runs like a thread through the past few years,” said Stephan Brandner, the parliamentary managing director of the AfD parliamentary group. The acting ministers would cause this damage for “ideologically driven reasons”.

According to the draft law, the Federal Minister Act should be supplemented by “§ 7 duty and liability in the office” by the following sentence: “If a member of the Federal Government culpably violates his official obligation, the Federal Republic of Germany has to compensate for the resulting damage.”

With the Greens, the proposal meets rejection. For Lukas Benner, member of the legal committee, the proposal pretends to be a freedom of fools for ministers that do not exist. “Even now, Federal Minister is punishable if they deliberately commit infidelity or deliberately and immorally damage the tax authorities,” said Benner. Legal punishment deliberately has high hurdles, but a “targeted state-damaging intent” was not given, for example, in the “toll debacle” by Scheuer. “I can see nothing else here than a cheap grip in the bottom drawer of populism.”

Is it just populism or is it even more behind it? The fact that at least parts of the AfD dream of a kind of revenge judiciary when taking over the government, the report of the Federal Office for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution for the high classification of the AfD shows as secure right-wing extremist. Several quotes are listed there, which can be understood as a direct threat to the political decision -makers.

Björn Höcke, Thuringian state chairman, is cited there, for example: “When we come, then you will tidy up. Gunnar Linnemann, who has been sitting for the AfD in the Berlin House of Representatives since 2016, threatened that a new government will “be held accountable” by those responsible for Corona politics. The party leader Tino Chrupalla also demanded in 2024, according to the constitutional protection report: “We will be responsible for the old parties and their helpers.” There is also talk of “folk traps”.

According to internal discussion protocols, which are cited in another expert opinion, the statement in the now dissolved AfD group “wing” fell: “A cleaning of the political class will be inevitable.” Even if the wing no longer exists, former members such as Höcke are still in the party today. In particular, the migration and corona politics as well as the work of the state offices and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution are the focus of the statements and quotations.

AfD politician Brandner sees no risk of abuse in his draft law. If you have confidence in the rule of law-in any case he has it “partially”-the question of a possible revenge judiciary would answer itself. Because it is not a successor to decide whether someone is liable under civil law, but independent courts.

According to its own statement, the AfD is based on the Bavarian Ministerial Act. There is a passage that can be liable for minister for grossly negligent or intentional misconduct and you are obliged to compensate the Free State. So far, however, the theory has been pure, this law has never been used.

Probably also because proof of criminal liability in individual cases could be very difficult. In the case of mask procurement by the then health minister Jans Spahn, these were scarce at the time of the tender, in pandemic and procurement above the actual market value. It is questionable whether a dish would really recognize grossly negligent behavior here.

According to the first parliamentary managing director of the parliamentary group, Bernd Baumann, the party does not plan for liability for funds that are wasted in the party leadership of the AfD. This has nothing to do with state liability, said member of the Bundestag. Because of a possibly illegal party donation, the AfD had given the Bundestag administration in April as a precaution. For fear of a punishment.