"Coronavirus bonuses": Germany launched an investigation against Foreign Minister Burbock

The Berlin prosecutor's office has launched an investigation against members of the Green Party's executive committee, which includes German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock.

Initially, this was reported by Der Spiegel, citing sources.

Later, the information was confirmed both in the supervisory body and in the political force itself.

We are talking about the involvement of members of the federal board in decision-making on the payment of the so-called “coronavirus bonuses” in the amount of € 1.5 thousand. The funds were paid in 2020 to all employees and employees of the federal apparatus, as well as the federal board, in order to compensate for the difficulties caused by the need work at home and repair of the building that housed the federal apparatus of the Greens.

In addition to Burbock, the Vice Chancellor, Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Robert Habeck, Executive Secretary Michael Kellner and other high-ranking members of the Greens - Rikard Lang, Jamila Schaefer and Mark Urbach - received such a payment.

• Annalena Burbock and Robert Habek

• AP

• © Michael Sohn

“The board members affected by the incident and the federal apparatus are working closely with the prosecutor’s office to quickly and comprehensively clarify the circumstances of the case,” a party spokesman told Der Tagesspiegel.

It is noted that the prosecutor's office began an investigation on January 6.

The grounds were statements from private individuals.

At the same time, internal party auditors objected to payments to the federal board.

Note that Burbock has already been seen in the bonus scandal.

So, in May 2021, she admitted that she did not declare party bonuses, the total amount of which amounted to € 25 thousand, as additional income in the period from 2018 to 2020. Then she expressed regret that she did not inform the speaker of the Bundestag, as required by law, about payments: "I myself was terribly angry with myself because of my mistake."

“Some German politicians have had careers and less”

Leading researcher at the Center for German Studies at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Kamkin, commenting on the investigation against high-ranking members of the Greens, believes that quite drastic personnel changes in this party can be expected.

“German society and the media are very sensitive in Germany to such incidents, and if we recall the history of previous ministers, then some German politicians had their careers crossed out and a lesser, let's say, offense.

For example, in 2011, the German defense minister was forced to leave his post due to allegations of plagiarism in his dissertation.

By the way, Burbock herself was also accused of the fact that her works were not written flawlessly in terms of plagiarism ... Let's see what happens now, ”said the interlocutor of RT.

In turn, the German political scientist Alexander Rahr believes that it is still difficult to predict what consequences the Greens will face, including party co-chair Annalena Burbock.

“Now everyone is very nervous, social upheavals, psychological upheavals of people.

Previously, the Christian Democrats had a similar investigation (corruption scandal in the purchase of masks. -

).

I emphasize: the situation is nervous, what will come of it is still difficult to say, ”he said in a conversation with RT.

Also on russian.rt.com Security guarantees and pressure on RT DE: what Lavrov and the German Foreign Minister discussed

Recall that Annalena Burbock visited Russia this week.

On January 18, a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Russian Federation and the Federal Republic of Germany took place in Moscow.

Sergey Lavrov and Annalena Burbock, in particular, discussed the situation with the broadcasting of the RT DE TV channel in Germany.

Lavrov stressed that the media of both countries should work under equal, non-discriminatory conditions in each other's territories.

In response to a question from an RT DE journalist, Burbock said that Berlin does not interfere with the channel's broadcasting process, noting that it "works in Germany" and "is broadcast over the Internet."

She also claimed that media representatives "have access to journalistic activities", in particular to all government press conferences.

According to her, the interference of the German government in the work of the media would be contrary to the Constitution of the country.

In turn, Sergei Lavrov expressed the hope that Berlin would take concrete steps to improve the working conditions for Russian journalists in Germany.

According to him, attempts to restrict the broadcasting of RT DE contradict not only the European Convention on Transfrontier Television (ECTT), but also numerous conventions of UNESCO, the Council of Europe, and agreements in the OSCE.

“We expect that Germany, as a party to these international treaties and agreements, will take measures that will not discriminate against the RT DE channel,” he said.

At the end of December, the German-language channel RT DE was removed from the platform of the European satellite operator Eutelsat 9B under pressure from the German media regulator MABB less than a week after the start of broadcasting.

The reason is that the channel allegedly violated the European Convention on Transfrontier Television when obtaining a license issued by Serbia.

As stated by RT CEO Alexei Nikolov, the incident will be considered in court.

He also stressed that the broadcasting license was obtained in full compliance with ECTT.

In addition, the head of the German Foreign Ministry, following a meeting with Lavrov, spoke about the situation with the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, recalling that at the moment the certification procedure for this project has been suspended.

She also warned against using energy as a weapon.

According to her, such actions will lead to "relevant consequences", including for the trans-Baltic pipeline.