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Berlin (dpa) - After private deals by Union MPs with corona masks, calls for extensive consequences have been loud.

The German head of Transparency International, Hartmut Bäumer, called on the Bundestag to amend the rules of procedure in order to sanction certain forms of lobbying.

The parliamentary groups should draw up similar internal regulations, "with a graduated sanction mechanism from warning to parliamentary group exclusion," he told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

In his opinion, direct extra income, such as that of members of the Bundestag as lobbyists for a certain product that is bought by ministries, should be completely prevented.

Shortly before the state elections in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate on March 14, two Union politicians are also under massive internal criticism: The company of CDU politician Nikolas Löbel is said to have collected commissions of around 250,000 euros because they had sales contracts for corona masks mediated between a supplier and two private companies.

After heavy criticism, Löbel resigned from the CDU on Monday and immediately withdrew from parliament.

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The CSU member Georg Nüßlein is also said to have collected a six-figure sum for the mediation of supply contracts for FFP2 masks to the federal government and the Bavarian state government.

The Munich Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating him because of the initial suspicion of corruption in connection with the purchase of masks.

He had initially resigned from his position as vice leader of the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag and announced that he did not want to run for the Bundestag again.

At the weekend he resigned from the parliamentary group entirely.

According to CSU General Secretary Markus Blume, he also left the party on Monday.

The leadership of the Union parliamentary group announced extensive measures to MPs on Monday to prevent such occurrences from being repeated.

"As a parliamentary group, we will give ourselves a code of conduct that goes well beyond what is legally expected of members of the German Bundestag," says a letter from parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus and CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt to the members of the Union.

In the ZDF "heute journal", Brinkhaus admitted: "We made mistakes there, we didn't look enough, it has to get better."

CDU party leader Armin Laschet said on Monday evening in the ARD "Tagesthemen", should anyone in the CDU have done similar business as Löbel, this person now has time to tell him personally before it is noticed.

It is now the time to clear the table, "if not, we'll do it," he made clear.

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FDP leader Christian Lindner called for a special investigator to be set up to clear up the affair of commissions from members of the Bundestag for the procurement of corona protective masks.

He told “Mannheimer Morgen”: “For example, a former member of the Constitutional Court could use files to clarify whether everything has been going well in the procurement plans since the beginning of the pandemic.

According to Lindner, a corresponding report could dispel all doubts before the general election in September.

Lindner made a similar statement in the "Heilbronn voice".

Meanwhile, SPD leader Norbert Walter-Borjans called for a tightening of the lobby register agreed by the Union and the SPD.

"All democrats must be concerned that greed and nepotism have no chance in our parliaments," Walter-Borjans told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

He called on the party leaders of the CDU and CSU, Armin Laschet and Markus Söder, to join forces with the SPD to stand up for “effective rules on transparency and sanctions”.

A week ago, the government parliamentary groups in the Bundestag agreed on the structure of the new register.

Critics don't go far enough.

The constitutional lawyer Joachim Wieland told the "Mannheimer Morgen" that the law on representatives has so far been rather toothless.

"The acceptance of benefits is only prohibited if it is made without consideration or if this has a specific effect on voting behavior."

Löbel approached companies and boasted about his contacts as a politician.

"But that does not currently violate the law."

When asked whether political sideline activities should be banned, he said: «Constitutional law sets strict limits.

A general ban would be against the constitution. "

He called for politicians to disclose the exact amount of their earnings from secondary employment.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210309-99-743286 / 2