The Federal Audit Office makes severe accusations against Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing. The former party-less desk chief had “overlooked” making clear guidelines for the German Railways (DB) throughout the entire legislative period, according to a note from the audit office, as reported by the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
There is still no owner strategy, and the state-owned company has “no boundaries” set for it. On the contrary, the lack of strategy has even “encouraged the current problems”. Because the railway “took advantage of this management vacuum and created facts”. The paper is part of the “comments” from the audit office on the government’s policy, which the authority sent to the Bundestag on Wednesday.
It is completely open, “how much of the railway” the federal government “wants to have at what cost”, according to the paper. The federal government’s railway policy goals are not clearly defined. Wissing’s ministry is thus violating the principles of good corporate and active participation management. The supervisory authority had already pointed out in 2019 that the DB “was in danger of developing in the wrong direction due to the lack of federal guidelines”. “This strategy is still missing”, the audit office now clearly states. Wissing’s office had “delayed it for years”.
According to the report, former Federal Finance Minister and FDP party leader Christian Lindner had repeatedly asked Wissing to present an owner strategy. Without one, he would not agree to “any budgetary applications of the DB AG”, the report further states. This also makes clear the great discord between the two FDP-led ministries at the railway.