The festering German masks scandal has shaken trust in the largest ruling party (CDU/CSU), the Coalition. Several coalition party members of parliament have now fallen from grace.
According to Bayerischer Rundfunk, two prominent CSU federal lawmakers have been implicated in the mouthpiece scandal, suspected of taking bribes, and the Munich General Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into the matter. The two MPs received lucrative kickbacks when they helped the state order masks and made a national fortune at a Time of national tragedy, sparking public outrage.
The media first broke the story that Congressman Georg Nüßlein had made efforts to buy masks from a supplier for the German Federal Ministry of health and the Bavarian Ministry of Health in early 2020, for which he received a kickback of 660,000 euros. Public opinion is very unhappy with MPs receiving kickbacks for state services. The criticism grew. The MP had to resign from the party in early March.
Shortly thereafter, it came to light that CDU federal MP Alfred Sauter was allegedly involved in a muzzle scandal. The lawyer and former Bavarian Minister of Justice is suspected of having received 1 million euros in kickbacks when ordering masks for the state. The MP is also under investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Bavarian radio reported Sunday that Sauter has now resigned from all party posts, but does not yet want to give up his post as a Bavarian state deputy for the CSU. The CSU does not think this is enough.
In the CDU, to which Chancellor Merkel belongs, there has also been a muzzling scandal of several MPs receiving kickbacks. According to Southwest Radio, CDU Federal MP Nikolas Löbel received 250,000 euros in kickbacks when he brokered a deal for companies to buy masks from China, sparking public discontent. After the scandal came to light, Löbel came under pressure from many sides and resigned from the party and from his position as a federal lawmaker in early March.
The scandal of bribery of key CDU members is also not the only one. Media reports say that the coalition party has structural problems.
The scandal has significantly weakened the popularity of the coalition party. The media are already talking about the possibility that the coalition will be sidelined as an opposition party after the parliamentary elections in September. The red-green-yellow coalition, i.e. the coalition of the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Liberal Democrats, has the possibility of coming to power.
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