PPolitics is often drama, sometimes also chess. This can currently be observed in the Bundestag when blacks try to put pressure on the SPD king. The Union wants to achieve this by the next election with the help of a committee of inquiry. He should take a close look at the back and forth of the Hamburg tax authorities with tax payments from the private bank Warburg, in which cum-ex transactions play an important role. This is what experts call trading in shares on the day of distribution with (“cum”) and without (“ex”) dividends – with the result that a tax that has only been paid once is reimbursed several times. Such cases are currently being processed under criminal law. The co-partner of Warburg Bank, Christian Olearius, will therefore soon have to answer in court.
The process is politically explosive because the committee operated by the Union is intended not least to shed light on the Senate’s actions. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was the mayor of the Hanseatic city at the time. As a result, his party friends defended their “king” with verve on Thursday. Her motto is: everything is already settled, there is nothing. The speakers of the Union, on the other hand, happily listed all the indications that point to influence.
Mathias Middelberg, deputy chairman of the Union faction, set the direction. There was “zero communication” from the Chancellor on this matter. There is therefore only one way to carefully work through the issue: the committee of inquiry. The CDU politician quoted Scholz, who himself described Cum-ex as a huge mess. Nevertheless, Hamburg was the only one of 16 federal states that did not demand the return of this wrongly refunded tax money. “The crime scene is now littered with evidence, with traces that all indicate that in this case political influence on the specific decision took place.”
“A diabolical plan came to fruition today”
First there was the legal opinion in the Hamburg authorities that the funds had to be reclaimed. Then there were a series of talks between the heads of the bank and SPD politicians in Hamburg, and finally also with Mayor Scholz. Immediately afterwards, the authority changed its legal position. The tax officer responsible wrote to a friend: “A devilish plan came up today.” That’s hardly how you can describe a proper administrative act, said Middelberg.
“The CDU/CSU is not concerned with gaining knowledge, but with pure propaganda against Chancellor Olaf Scholz,” countered the SPD politician Michael Schrodi. In Hamburg there is already a committee of inquiry into this complex of issues. “What do you really want to investigate new things?” The investigative committee is an important minority right. But there are legal limits to this. The Bundestag cannot control state governments and state administrations, that is the task of the parliaments there.
The political groups unanimously referred the Union application to the Rules of Procedure Committee. There, the wording of the questions to be investigated by the committee of inquiry is decided by majority. So the SPD can still exert influence – but it must not go so far that it undermines minority rights. In order for the committee of inquiry to be able to start its work before the parliamentary summer break, its range of tasks should be outlined in the next few weeks.
