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The CDU member of the Bundestag Nikolas Löbel withdraws from politics in the course of the affair about business related to the procurement of corona masks.
Löbel announced on Sunday that he would resign from his Bundestag mandate at the end of August and no longer run for the next Bundestag.
At the same time, he will end his membership in the CDU / CSU parliamentary group immediately.
Before that, the internal party pressure on him had grown: a week before the state elections in Baden-Württemberg and his home state Rhineland-Palatinate, the 34-year-old from his party was now being urged to give up his parliamentary mandate.
The Baden-Württemberg CDU top candidate Susanne Eisenmann told ZDF: "If the mandate was used to accomplish this sale, this brokerage, then the resignation is necessary immediately."
The Young Union reacted even more sharply to the affair, which also affects other Union MPs.
She quoted her chairman Tilman Kuban on Twitter: “Those who take advantage of people's plight and still fill their pockets with it.
He doesn't belong in a German parliament and certainly not in the CDU / CSU parliamentary group!
And if they don't want to go, they have to be kicked out. "
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The CDU member Stefan Kaufmann from Baden-Württemberg tweeted: “Anyone who links their parliamentary work with private economic interests has no place in a parliament.
The current processes must have consequences. "
The Mannheimer Löbel had confirmed participation in business with corona protective masks on Friday.
Löbel's company has collected commissions of around 250,000 euros because it brokered purchase contracts for masks between a Baden-Württemberg supplier and two private companies in Heidelberg and Mannheim.
Löbel admitted mistakes and initially only withdrew from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag.
The leadership of the Union parliamentary group had already sharply condemned the dealings of MPs in the procurement of masks on Friday.
"Acting within the scope of the mandate must not be linked to personal financial interests," wrote parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU) and CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt to all members of the Union.
"We therefore say very clearly that the receipt of cash benefits for the procurement of medical protective equipment as part of the fight against pandemics by parliamentarians meets with our complete lack of understanding and is decisively condemned by us."
The coalition partner SPD and the Berlin opposition parties had also sharply criticized.
The CSU member of the Bundestag Georg Nüßlein has already renounced another candidacy for the Bundestag, as his lawyer announced on Friday.
The 51-year-old resigned from his position as vice-chairman of the Union parliamentary group.
He is being investigated because of the initial suspicion of corruption in connection with the purchase of masks.
The investigators had therefore searched 13 properties in Germany and Liechtenstein in the past week, including Nüßlein's Bundestag office and his constituency office in Günzburg in Swabia.
His lawyer rejects the allegations.