WWhen he followed the testimony of the former Bavarian Minister of Transport, Kerstin Schreyer, to the investigative committee on the second S-Bahn trunk line in Munich on Tuesday, he can hardly be surprised why the project will cost several billion euros more and be delayed by many years. It probably wasn’t Schreyer’s fault.
There are solid indications that after taking office in February 2020, she did a lot to speed up processes and first and foremost warn Prime Minister Markus Söder of impending problems. But they let her down. At least that’s how you could understand the CSU politician, who also seemed quite credible in the opinion of opposition politicians.
Alarming numbers
A major problem was that she, as the representative of the client, the Free State of Bavaria, did not receive any figures from the contractor Deutsche Bahn. She had “hit walls everywhere,” said Schreyer.
Earlier witnesses had testified that the railways were viewed with suspicion that politicians wanted to keep an eye on them; Schreyer’s predecessor, Hans Reichhart, set up a specialist group for “construction supervision”.
When alarming figures finally reached the Bavarian Ministry of Transport at the working level, according to Schreyer, Ronald Pofalla, who was on the board at the time, first declared them null and void and then downplayed them as the “first basis for discussion”.
At the time in question, Schreyer’s party friend Andreas Scheuer was Federal Minister of Transport – he was once in the federal cabinet with the former CDU politician Pofalla. One might think that the Scheuer might have been able to help, especially since the railway belongs to the federal government.
Schreyer also asked him for support, this is confirmed in a letter. Scheuer did not want to remember this in his testimony – Schreyer, on the other hand, said her party friend had referred her back to the railways. “I can’t force anyone to help me,” said Schreyer.
Since she was fired by Söder, she has tried to build her own power base, with mixed success. She is chairwoman of the Economic Committee – Söder’s candidate had failed the parliamentary group in order to wipe out the party leader.
But Schreyer’s ambitions to chair the parliamentary group are seen as hopeless. It is often rumored that she is too bold. She referred to this on Tuesday: “I’m not very diplomatic, unfortunately.”
Although bold, but stands by their decisions
On the other hand, she makes quick decisions and then stands by them. In contrast to Söder? She avoided obviously incriminating him, but she also didn’t resort to the usual lapses in memory when answering questions didn’t make the prime minister look good.
Again and again it revolved around a round table at which, according to Schreyer’s wishes, all those involved in the project should be brought together. In her opinion, only the prime minister could have invited – and he probably agreed in principle.
Alone: The round never came about, at least not until Schreyer’s replacement in February 2022, although they kept asking “at all levels” and made it clear to the State Chancellery “that the hut is on fire”.
The statement is also sensitive because there is a note from the State Chancellery in which a department head classifies the main route as “not a winning topic”, with the approval of the Head of State Chancellery. The opposition suspects that Söder saw it the same way, especially since he applied for the chancellor candidacy six months later.
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