A transparency initiative and a parliamentary watchdog have criticized the personal composition of the coalition negotiations between CDU, CSU and SPD, raising concerns about the potential influence of lobby groups.
According to the head of Abgeordnetenwatch, Léa Briand, the composition of the negotiation groups raises significant questions about potential conflicts of interest. The fact that active farmers and representatives of the agricultural lobby are negotiating for the Union on both agricultural and environmental issues poses the risk that environmental and public welfare interests are neglected in favor of economic lobbies.
For the CDU/CSU, three parliamentarians are negotiating agricultural and environmental policy, who are active in the land and forestry industry in addition to their political duties, as well as the president of the Bavarian Farmers’ Association, Günther Felßner and the head of the Bioenergy Association, Artur Auernhammer, two chiefs of interest groups.
“The Union must now show that it has learned from past lobby scandals like the mask affair and really takes transparency and integrity seriously in the handling of lobby interests” said the speaker of the organization Lobbycontrol, Timo Lange, to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. This includes maintaining a critical distance from particularly strong lobby groups and ensuring balance in the participation and composition of working groups. “We are therefore observing with concern how many farmers and agricultural functionaries the CDU and CSU have sent alone into the negotiation group for agriculture and the environment.”
As government parties, CDU and CSU must balance different interests, according to Lobbycontrol. “With personalities like Günther Felßner and Artur Auernhammer, the Union is, however, sending a contrary signal” said Lange to the RND.
Furthermore, the composition of the negotiation groups is problematic due to the low representation of women and young people, criticized the head of Abgeordnetenwatch, Léa Briand. “A living democracy thrives on diversity and equal participation” said she to the RND. “If political decisions are made in a limited circle, there is a risk of a distortion of interests.” For politics to be future-proof and credible, all social groups must have an equal say and influence.
Among the 256 participants in the black-red coalition negotiations, the female proportion is 36.4 percent in total. Especially few women are represented in the team of CDU leader Friedrich Merz with 26.3 percent, while the CSU negotiators have nearly a third of women (31.4 percent) and the SPD’s negotiators almost half (46.7 percent).
The average age of the coalition negotiations is 49.8 years, more than five years above the average age of the German population with 44.6 years.