Three weeks before the state elections, the Social Democrats and Greens wanted to use the flood investigation committee of the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament on Friday to boil up the so-called Mallorca affair again.

But now the SPD is discrediting itself because of a spying campaign.

Pure burger

Political correspondent in North Rhine-Westphalia.

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No sooner had State Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser (CDU) resigned on April 7, because shortly after the devastating July flood disaster she was on vacation with her family in Mallorca longer than known and also celebrated her husband's birthday there with cabinet colleagues, when Sarah took it Philipp, the parliamentary director of the SPD parliamentary group, not only targeted the two ministers, but also Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) with an extensive catalog of questions.

According to the will of the opposition, there should be a big showdown on Friday.

SPD politician denies involvement in spying attempts

But on Thursday evening, the affair took an additional turn.

As the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger" reported, the SPD had made two attempts on the day before Heinen-Esser's resignation to spy on the Instagram account of the 16-year-old daughter of the then Environment Minister - obviously to access compromising photos of the birthday suitor get and so be able to better capitalize on the affair.

The youth account is only visible to verified contacts.

She declined both requests.

It is piquant that the trail in the cause leads directly to Sarah Philipp: The first contact request was made directly from her Instagram account.

Three minutes later, one of Philipp's employees tried to get in touch with the minister's daughter himself.

At the request of the FAZ, Philipp confirmed the process, which was already documented by screenshots, but emphasized that she only became aware of the two Instagram requests through the report of the "Kölner Stadtanzeiger".

Both inquiries were made by a student employee of her Duisburg representative office, "who also looks after my social media account, without my knowledge and without my permission".

She also apologizes to Heinen-Esser and her daughter on behalf of her employee.

In a personal conversation, she made it clear to her employee that his behavior was unacceptable.

At the same time, the parliamentary manager of the SPD parliamentary group admitted a direct connection between the action and the “Mallorca affair”.

On April 6, there were the first rumors in the state parliament "about an alleged birthday party for Mrs. Heinen-Esser and other members of the government".

The employee's motivation for the Instagram contact requests was "curiosity and not very sensitive".

“Horrifying brutalization of democratic culture”

A few hours after the unsuccessful attempt to see the daughter's photos, Ursula Heinen-Esser had confirmed the birthday party for her husband herself: Also Minister of Construction Ina Scharrenbach (CDU), Minister for Europe Stephan Holthoff-Pförtner (CDU) and the then State Secretary Serap Güler (CDU) were there.

The day after, Heinen-Esser resigned.

Shortly before, the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger" had reported on the celebration.

What is strange about Philipp's admission is not only that she does not want to know anything about the contact made under her name, although she is personally active on her Instagram channel, as evidenced by the pictures posted there.

In addition, the rumor circulated in the state parliament on April 7 that an attempt had been made to contact Heinen-Esser's daughter under Philipp's name.

No wonder that the CDU, which got into trouble as a result of the "Mallorca affair", immediately tried to turn the tables.

CDU parliamentary group leader Bodo Löttgen demanded comprehensive information from the SPD about the spying attempts.

It was "a shocking brutalization of the democratic culture," said Löttgen on Friday before the start of the investigative protection session.

In addition, SPD state leader Thomas Kutschaty – who wants to replace Wüst as prime minister in the state elections on May 15 – must “formally apologize to Ms. Heinen-Esser’s family for this unprecedented intrusion into their privacy”.

Meanwhile, Heinen-Esser burst into tears when she was questioned again by the committee of inquiry into the flood disaster.

The requests to her daughter were "a step too much" for her, "a limit was crossed," said Heinen-Esser on Friday with a tear-choked voice.

She is also very sorry that guests at her husband's birthday party were criticized.

However, the 56-year-old politician insisted that she returned to Mallorca because of her daughter and her friends, not to celebrate her husband's birthday.