Exposed by COVID-19 Mask Scandals, Merkel's Party Revises Ethics Rules

Not running for re-election, her government engulfed in scandals and conflicts of interest around the purchase of COVID-19 masks, Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is rewriting ethics rules.

That comes in the wake of the CDU and its aligned party, the Christian Social Union (CSU,) suffering historic losses in state elections, setting officials scrambling to prevent more setbacks in Sept. 26 national elections and address corruption charges against party members.

The state broadcaster Deutsche Welle said it had obtained a copy of a draft of new ethics rules entitled Strengthen Trust, Follow Rules, Sanction Infractions, a code of conduct telling party members and elected officials to act as “role models”.

Merkel's hand was forced after three members of her political bloc quit after reports two party members hundreds of thousands of euros in payments from mask-producing companies getting government contracts, increasing public anger.

Nikolas Löbel, a now former CDU MP, quit after reports his company got €250,000 ($294,221) for brokering mask sales contracts, while Georg Nüsslein, from the CSU, faces accusations he received €660,000 ($776,744) to lobby for a mask supplier.

Additional reports that Health Minister Jens Spahn's agency bought 570,000 face masks from a company for which his husband Daniel Funke works further rocked the already staggering government.

That was first reported by the German news magazine Der Spiegel which said a media company, Hubert Burda Media GmbH, sold the masks when supplies were low in April of 2020 as the pandemic was raging.

Funke holds a high-level position with Burda but the company said he was not involved in the sale for which the news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) said the ministry paid around €909,452 ($1.070,320 million) or €1.60 ($1.88 each.)

Burda publishes several popular magazines and said it sold the masks at cost with no profit and had gotten them through a minority share in a company in Singapore to help the ministry, a company spokesman told dpa.

That compared to 4 euros ($4.71) each the Bavarian Health Ministry paid for 3.5 million masks, including those tied to a sale for which Nüsslein, through his consulting company, was paid, another commission of 540,000 euros ($635,518) stopped by a bank in Lichtenstein, said German TV station Tagesschau.

Through his lawyer, Nüsslein rejected the allegations in connection with the commission, but there was no further comment.

THE BIG FALLOUT

Other conservative lawmakers have resigned over corruption allegations not related to the pandemic, including MP Tobias Zech from the CSU, who quit after reports he did public relations work for a political party in North Macedonia.

The damage to the parties was done, with officials worried it's irrecoverable, especially after a long-time CSU board member and former Bavarian Justice Minister, Alfred Sauter – who the TV station was suspected of corruption – resigned party offices.

Broadcasters NDR, WDR and the newspaper Süddeutscher Zeitung said that Sauter and Nüsslein and three other people would have gotten as much as 6 million euros ($7.06 million) from the masks sales and that a company linked to Sauter's children got 1.2 million euros ($1.41 million.) He denied wrongdoing.

As allegations of suspected corruption and conflicts of interest grew, Andreas Nick, a leading CSU member, ripped Sauter and Nüsslein. Bavarian State Premier and CSU Chairman Markus Söder, a possible Chancellor candidate, said the elections results were "a heavy blow to the heart of the union."

Nick told Deutsche Welle's Conflict Zone the cases were "totally unacceptable" and require politicians to "clean up where there are unforgivable violations of ethical standards.” He said that that a clear process is needed to make sure “compliance with ethical standards is ensured.”

Trying to stem the tide, the ethics code would require transparency of party members and candidates, possibly including reporting all income and any ties to lobbyists or potential conflicts of interests with companies.

Further measures will be drafted by the board before the Federal elections that loom as a watershed moment for the long-ruling parties, by which time officials said they would use outside legal counsel to have a system for reporting, and sanctions.

"This is not a toothless tiger, but a sharp sword," said Söder when presenting the measures. It is about "full transparency and consistency,” he said. "We are there for maximum transparency,” he added, including how party donations are handled.

The ethics rules draft said parliamentarians were reminded they were not in office for personal gain and that anyone violating the principles of transparency would have to immediately resign, while admitting there's resistance.

Politicians would be prohibited from accepting financial contributions and to declare any relations they have with foreign governments or businesses, while municipal officials must recuse themselves from voting on projects to which they may have ties.

"We want to have a complete and comprehensive picture, right down to the smallest ramifications," emphasized Söder.

This includes "full transparency" for additional income and a "declaration of integrity" the draft said in a 10-point proposal, and that anyone wanting to run for office must comply with the code of conduct.

On Thursday, the governing fractions agreed on introducing additional transparency rules for deputies of the Bundestag. The initiative aims at establishing obligations to publish deputies’ additional incomes exceeding 3000 Euro, and prohibit members of parliament to receive donations. Breaches against transparency rules are going to be considered as criminal offenses in the future.