Name: A series of corruption scandals put German politicians under scrutiny | DW News
Uploaded: 2021-03-27T18:20:46.000Z
Duration: 5 min 29 s
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German politics is generally  seen as honest and transparent. 

Germany is the world's 9th cleanest country,  according to Transparency International.  

Here, pale blue shows countries Transparency  ranks as clean – and the darker the blue,  

But Germany's parliament has recently seen  a series of scandals - prompting outrage. 

Several MPs from Chancellor Angela Merkel's  conservative bloc have stepped down as a result.  

Allegations include MPs taking payments from  Azerbaijan's government in exchange for support.  

Others profited from deals to make or supply  facemasks in the pandemic. Now many say  

Germany needs tougher laws to control its MPs. “What happened in the last weeks in Germany is  

a huge threat for in general the trust of citizens  towards their politicians. It's something that  

will turn so many people away from politics. And  that's a huge problem. We cannot let it happen.  

And it's a big danger, I think, for democracy.” So, what can and can't Germany's politicians do? 

German MPs receive a pre-tax salary  of around 10,000 euros per month 

They are allowed to earn money on the side – as  long as their work as an MP is their main focus 

About a third of MPs say they  do have other sources of income. 

They must declare how much they earn on  top of their government salary - once  

the extra is more than 1,000 Euros  a month or 10,000 Euros a year. 

But they don't have to declare the exact  amount – and there's no upper limit. 

MPs also have to make a declaration if  they own more than 25% of a company. 

But they don't have to reveal  what their companies do,  

which other firms they do business  with, or how much all of that is worth. 

Critics say that leaves too much  room for conflicts of interest. 

“If there are rules in Germany, people generally  follow the rules. But if you don't have a rule,  

of course, people take the liberty not to  necessarily follow any moral guidelines,  

but to take it to their advantage. At the moment  there are, unfortunately, a lot of loopholes  

in the codes of conduct for members of  parliament. As long as there are loopholes,  

there will be people trying  to take advantage of it. ” 

The government has recognized it needs  to change things. The key parties have  

drafted suggestions to tighten the laws. Critics say the plans are still too  

weak. And the overall situation has  attracted international attention. 

Last year, the Council of Europe's Group of  States against Corruption (GRECO) called on  

the German government to set up stricter  rules around transparency. Its report  

said parliament needed stronger safeguards  against conflicts of interest – and also  

highlighted another area of concern – lobbying. Lobbyists work the corridors of power – using  

various tactics to influence political  decisions. They can represent huge companies  

or whole industries, but also single-issue  campaigns and smaller interest groups. 

“Lobbyism in itself is not something  bad in a representative democracy,  

interest groups should have direct contact with  politics. If we don't know as a public how and who  

influenced a law when a law is passed, in the end,  

we cannot check if all the interests were heard.” Germany has no official record of who is working  

to influence which decisions – or how  much time and money they spend doing it. 

“Compared to many other Western nations,  such as the UK, such as France, Canada,  

Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria even - and  Austria is famously corrupt - Germany doesn't  

really have a lot of rules.” Germany's governing coalition  

recently agreed to set up a lobby register. It will force lobbyists to say who they work  

for - Making a false or incomplete statement  could cost up to 50,000 euros in fines. 

But the register would not require them to  say who they meet or how much they spend. 

Experts say the proposal is a step in the right  direction – but that it should go much further. 

“So in the end what we would get with  the current lobby register would be  

names lists of who is lobbying. But we  lack actually the rest of the information.  

If you want transparency and you don't get it  completely covered, then you won't have half  

of transparency, you won't have any at all.” With Chancellor Merkel set to leave politics  

after September's election, Germany is entering  a period of upheaval. Democracy depends on voters  

trusting the system – and soon they'll show  politicians just how deep that trust runs.