Overview
- Lawmakers convened the inquiry’s first session, agreed on procedures, and filed an initial evidence request for internal files already viewed by some deputies.
- The committee plans to meet on Fridays in plenary weeks and aims to deliver a report to the Berlin parliament by summer.
- Manuela Schmidt of Die Linke chairs the panel with SPD politician Melanie Kühnemann-Grunow as deputy.
- AfD nominees failed to win seats on the committee, and the party says it will challenge the exclusion at the Berlin Constitutional Court, citing a 2022 case over representation.
- Linke and Greens allege former culture senator Joe Chialo and successor Sarah Wedl-Wilson approved funding under CDU pressure in breach of budget rules, which the CDU rejects, while rbb-reported internal documents indicate staff flagged legal concerns about some awards.