Posted by pmags 7 days ago
It's like saying a cargo ship can't keep up with a speed boat.
What is the point of the ministry, and why does the current global leader of super-high-tech (USA) not seem to be in need of such?
I think you are a couple of decades late for that claim.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothee_B%C3%A4r
Sounds like her only non-political experience is working as a journalist.
It's arguable that the "corrupt" part was scrubbed off Wikipedia. But her credentials to lead a research / technology / aerospace ministry certainly sound underwhelming.
https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2013-04/baer-csu-geh... https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/csu-politikerin-d...
She hired her future husband as an employee until immediately before their wedding. This position was paid by the federal German parliament, i.e. the taxpayer. It's illegal to hire a relative in such a position.
Not that other parties are better...
germany's digital infrastructure is a global laughing stock, this doesn't bode well.
The recent rapid improvements even diminished Romania's lead to less than 250%.
Of course this is only up to the Telekom speedtest server, beyond that nearly all of Germany's 50-100Tbps get funneled through 362Gbps of interconnections onto the open internet.
Digital infrastructure was part of traffic ministry.
Her role was coordinating the government's mostly internal digital strategy. Thus reviewing new bills, looking at processes inside the administration etc. most of the work outside the public eye.
Notable recent examples of corruption are the Maskenaffäre [4] or Julia Klöckner and Nestlé ("Julia Klöckner and Nestlé show how the greasy closeness between politics and business can go too far" [5]).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Scheuer: "Scheuer's ministry is said to have broken budgetary and public procurement law when concluding the multi-billion dollar contracts with the operators and "deliberately deceived" the Bundestag about the real costs of the car toll."
[2] Söder (party leader of CSU) said about Scheuer: "I don't know not many ministers that bring so much money to bavaria as Andreas Scheuer" [3]
[3] German: "Bei allem, was der ein oder andere kritisiert an dem Andi Scheuer: Ich kenne wenige Minister, die so viel Geld nach Bayern holen, wie der Andi Scheuer. Auch das muss man einfach mal in der Bilanz ehrlicherweise bitte nach draußen sagen."
[4] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maskenaffäre
5] https://www.spiegel.de/politik/julia-kloeckner-und-nestle-ze...
Your source 3 is not saying what you think it does. State government can apply for federal funding. Söder and his ilk have mastered this. There is nothing corrupt here.
„Source 3“: Well, if you are a minister for infrastructure in germany it is not part of our job description to bring money to bavaria. Maybe my definition of corruption is of but the minister has some saying in how to use its funds and if your home state benefits more than other parts of germany… I would call this a form of corruption
That is an unfortunate case of nepotism that happens in the entire political spectrum. I was especially disappointed of the Greens setting up cozy positions for friends and family at the end of their term. I really thought they'd do better..
> Well, if you are a minister for infrastructure in germany it is not part of our job description to bring money to bavaria
Why not? If you think Bavaria is the largest net benefactor of this measure you might as well do so. It's one out of many possible strategies.
> Maybe my definition of corruption is of
I think it's something else but I can't think of a word.
I must say as a bavarian citizen that this "abuse" has lots of benefits for us. Of course I am aware of my bias here. I can't find an interview but Söder has said that a lot of other states don't even apply to all Fördergelder they could possibly get. That always striked me as odd.