A recent decision by the Berlin Administrative Court has ordered the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) to provide access to a series of text messages exchanged between former Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Porsche CEO Oliver Blume in the summer of 2022. The messages, which were the subject of a ZDF satirical show, “Die Anstalt” had been the focus of a dispute between the two parties.
The court’s decision comes after a lengthy legal battle, with the BMF initially refusing to release the messages. The ministry had argued that the messages were not relevant to the public interest and that Lindner’s personal use of his ministerial phone did not constitute official business.
The court, however, ruled in favor of the applicant, Abgeordnetenwatch, a website that monitors the activities of German politicians and ordered the BMF to release the text messages. The messages, which were exchanged during a period of intense debate over the EU’s plans to ban internal combustion engines, are of significant public interest, according to the court.
The messages themselves are still not publicly available, but it is known that they were exchanged in the days leading up to a crucial EU ministerial meeting, at which the fate of the EU’s climate policies was decided. The court’s decision has been seen as a significant victory for transparency and accountability in German politics and has sparked widespread interest in the content of the messages and the nature of the relationship between Lindner and Blume.