Katherina Reiche under pressure: Corporate investments are now revealed

Katherina Reiche under pressure: Corporate investments are now revealed

Federal Minister of Economics Katherina Reiche (CDU) has been repeatedly faced with reviews about possible conflicts of interest since her appointment. At the request of the ARD capital studio, she has now disclosed company participations that could provide further discussions. The disclosure follows an inquiry from the Green Group Vice Andreas Audretsch, who asked about the company shares of Reiche.

As the Ministry announced, there is rich shares in a society that manages three properties and serves family wealth management. In addition, it has options of the company Ingrid Capacity, a Swedish energy company that specializes in battery storage. These options have a value of around 3,000 euros and are in the sales process. Before her ministerial activity was the rich member of the Board of Directors of Ingrid Capacity and head of the Eon subsidiary Westergie, but has now ended these activities.

transparency and reviews

The disclosure of rich company participation not only has to be interested, but also skepticism. Audetsch criticized the ministry's response as inadequate. The ministry had previously assured that Reiche did not hold any shares in E.ON and have no participations that could lead to a conflict of interest. According to the legal requirements, Federal Minister may not carry out a secondary jobs that could affect their workforce or neutrality.

The non -governmental organization LobbyControl has also given considerable conflicts of interest in regard to rich. These concerns illustrate how important transparency in political communication is. The publication of such information is not mandatory for ministers, but it is in the context of recent discussions about lobbyism and the combination of business and politics.

The context of lobbyism

Lobbyism occupies an important space in the political landscape in Germany. In an ongoing research project by ZDF and MPRNWATCH.de it is examined how companies enforce their interests in politics. Political scientists emphasize that lobbyism is a necessary form of advocacy that contributes to the procurement of information of politicians. However, it can be observed that financially strong companies have more resources to assert their influence, while weaker groups are often less heard.

Furthermore, an non -transparent landscape for lobbyists makes the matter complicated. An experiment shows that only one of six MPs made a meeting with lobbyists public. Although a lobby register is to create transparency since 2021, critics require even more openness about the interactions between lobbyists and deputies.

The explosiveness of the discussion about corporate participations by ministries and the role of lobbyism is clear. The situation of Katherina Riche reflects how complex the handling of conflicts of interest is in political perception and how important a clear and transparent communication in politics becomes.