Enquete Commission on Pandemic Response assembles, Rejects Inquiry into Spahn‘s Mask Deals
BERLIN – A newly formed Enquete Commission is tasked with analyzing Germany‘s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but has already rebuffed opposition attempts to launch a full parliamentary inquiry into alleged irregularities surrounding former Health Minister Jens Spahn’s procurement of coronavirus masks. The commission, possessing fewer investigative powers than a committee of inquiry, convened as scrutiny continues over considerable cost overruns and accusations of mismanagement during the pandemic’s peak.
The commission’s composition reflects the parliamentary balance of power. Representing the CDU, the panel includes MP Franziska Hoppermann, alongside Stefan Kluge, director of the Intensive Care Medicine Clinic at the University hospital Hamburg-eppendorf, and frankfurt headmistress Carolin Kubbe. The SPD is represented by Isabel Rothe, President of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Occupational Medicine, while health scientist Rolf Rosenbrock joins the commission from the Left party.
Opposition parties had sought a parliamentary committee of inquiry following a report by special representative Margaretha Sudhof detailing “serious allegations in the procurement of corona masks,” and a reported €57 million in additional costs. However,the CDU parliamentary group,currently led by Spahn,rejected the call for a more expansive inquiry. An Enquete Commission’s limited survey rights contrast with a committee of inquiry’s primary function of government oversight and addressing grievances in state action. (DPA/JAL)
