Shortly before the EU elections, Lindner’s ministry placed advertisements about the debt brake. Internal emails now show that Lindner was well informed. The ministry is rowing back.
Berlin – The FDP and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) are coming under increasing pressure because of two newspaper advertisements in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. Lindner’s ministry placed an advertisement shortly before the European elections on the 15th anniversary of the debt brake. Since then, the Ministry accused of unauthorized government communication Suspicion of illegal party financing remains. Research by the ARDAccording to Capital Studios, Lindner was apparently informed about the advertisements.
Finance Minister Linder remains under pressure over newspaper advertisement – “not permissible so shortly before an election”
According to Düsseldorf constitutional lawyer Sophie Schöneberger, since the advert on the anniversary of the debt brake is essentially an opinion and debate entry, it is “generally inadmissible, especially so shortly before an election”. The offence of illegal party financing could be fulfilled because the advert is so close to the party programme and party appearance of the FDP. However, according to Schöneberger, this will be a legally tricky question. The key question here is likely to be: When did Finance Minister and FDP leader Lindner know about the report and how much did he know?
Finance Ministry backtracks: Lindner is said to have known about problematic debt brake notice
Contrary to earlier statements by the ministry, Lindner was apparently present at a meeting on April 9, at which “the debt brake issue” was also discussed with the relevant PR agency. A ministry spokesman told the ARD. “Concrete measures”, however, would have been the responsibility of the communications department. The broadcaster also quoted an email from an employee to the agency on April 11: “I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to send me the two new FAZ ad variants, as discussed with Minister Lindner on Tuesday.”
At this point, Schöneberger saw Lindner in trouble: “If Lindner was at a meeting where the design of the ads was discussed, then his dual role as FDP leader and finance minister would become a problem for him.” At the latest during the election campaign, these two roles could no longer be separated, said the lawyer. “In this respect, the ad from the FDP perspective may also have to be attributed to the FDP leader,” Schöneberger told the broadcaster. The ministry did not want to answer in detail to what extent the minister was involved in the creation of the two ads.
Possible illegal party financing could be expensive for FDP
As the ARD reported that the Bundestag administration must now examine whether this is illegal party financing. According to information from the broadcaster, the reports cost a total of 46,367.74 euros. The penalty would normally be three times that amount. Therefore, both reports could cost the FDP 139,103.22 euros. Apart from that, the Left Party is suing the Federal Constitutional Court to determine that the Ministry of Finance violated the principle of equal opportunities between the parties with the report. (kb)
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