comment

Scholz in the Wirecard scandal Political leadership from yesterday

Status: 22.06.2021 5:50 p.m.

Finance Minister Scholz bears political responsibility for the Wirecard scandal. An apology would be appropriate. Because of his antiquated understanding of political leadership, there won’t be.

A comment by Tobias Betz, ARD capital studio

After eight months of the committee of inquiry, the question of political responsibility remains. And that is a fundamental question of political culture. Because there is not a word of regret from the government. Let’s not kid ourselves: this is shameful, but the reality.

The finance minister is politically responsible

Let’s take a look at the situation: The Wirecard case is one of the biggest financial scandals in Germany. At least 24 billion euros in damage. Everything happened in front of the eyes of the responsible authorities, which did not do their job in any way and at any time. And that is why there is certainly someone who is politically responsible – and that is the Federal Minister of Finance in this financial scandal. But Olaf Scholz makes it easy for himself. Not responsible, not involved, more like an observer. He could very well have – and should have – intervened. Because the Ministry of Finance has the legal and technical supervision of the Bafin. This is the financial supervisory authority. And she made gross miscalculations; she even supported Wirecard at times, reported journalists who had clues.

Not ready for self-reflection

Mistakes have been made. And the Scholz Ministry is responsible for ensuring that the financial supervision process works. If it just doesn’t work, then Scholz, as a minister, could be the size and have the courage to admit that mistakes have happened here. Honest words of regret. Society doesn’t really ask that much, a “Mea Culpa!”, “My mistake!” Is often enough. But Scholz is apparently not ready for this kind of error culture, critical self-reflection.

Don’t make any mistakes, least of all admit none

Maybe he’s not ready to do so because of the election campaign. Just don’t make any mistakes, least of all admit any mistakes. Protect yourself, after all, he is a candidate for chancellor. Namely one who advertises to have a lot of government experience. But leadership doesn’t include ironing out and fending off everything. That is an understanding of political leadership from the past. Mistakes happen, people make mistakes and they are allowed to admit them. That would be honest and brave. But as a consequence, calls for resignation like those from the AfD are out of place.

The Chancellor apologized

That promotes this unspeakable error culture in politics. If every mistake immediately costs the post, then it is already clear that there can be no political Mea Culpa. Chancellor Angela Merkel once broke with this culture of mistakes. During the lockdown policy at Easter. She had to withdraw an overnight decision to introduce an additional public holiday. But she didn’t do that quietly and without comment. No, she stood in front of Parliament and apologized in public for it. Apparently this remains an exception. But the Chancellor has the format of a chancellor. Editorial note Comments generally reflect the opinion of the respective author and not that of the editors

From Alfred Schmit, ARD capital studio The distance rules could get tricky outside the committee of inquiry this week. Because big names always attract whole groups of observers, and financial media are added to the capital city press when it comes to Wirecard. It was the same when ex-Federal Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg came – however, the hearing about his lobbying work produced a result with little substance. This should not be repeated.

What did Altmaier know?

From today’s survey by Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier, the MPs hope to gain clarification about accounting auditing firms such as KPMG – and above all about EY, formerly known as Ernst & Young. You looked in the books at Wirecard – and Altmaier is politically responsible for overseeing these companies. The main questions for him: Why did it only become apparent so late that Wirecard’s balance sheets were wrong? And how can this be prevented from happening again. Danyal Bayaz, for the Greens in the committee, used to work for a consulting firm and thinks: In the Wirecard case, the balance sheet check clearly failed. The business location is battered, the damage to the image is great. “The Federal Minister of Economics has to touch his nose: where has his authority not been working properly?”, Says Bayaz. After the questioning of the Federal Minister of Economics, it is the turn of the digital representative of the Chancellery, Dorothee Bär. What did she know about the nested tech company’s business? Wednesday will be the silent star of the celebrity week at the Wirecard investigation committee: Here come Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht and Finance State Secretary Jörg Kukies – he has to listen to allegations of oversleeping the reform of the German financial supervisory authority BaFin.

Spotlight on Scholz

When Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and the Chancellor arrive on Thursday and Friday, many spotlights will be on them. SPD chairman Jens Zimmermann believes, however, that no matter how great the attention may be, the knowledge could be so little. There will be great disappointment when the chancellor and the finance minister are questioned, he says. “Neither of them will be able to contribute much to the clarification because they were hardly concerned with these topics personally.” Big wave, little content: the risk is there. However, the results of the committee of inquiry so far are absolutely impressive: Minister Scholz felt compelled to submit a draft law for more financial market security. Leading minds in German financial supervision were called to account. Some lost their jobs because the committee’s educational work revealed that they had misconduct. In addition, the financial supervisory authority BaFin is getting a reform that has not yet been completed. In any case, celebrity week brings with it one thing: more attention to how this 22 billion euro bankruptcy has lost many investors’ money.