Overview
- A planned second questioning of special investigator Margaretha Sudhof has been deferred from late July to the next full in-person Budget Committee session in September.
- Bundestag President Julia Klöckner refused to approve a special summer session of the Health Committee, preventing an earlier follow-up hearing.
- Opposition MPs, led by Green budget spokesperson Paula Piechotta, accuse the Union and SPD of obstructing scrutiny to protect former Health Minister Jens Spahn.
- Sudhof’s report finds that Spahn’s fixed-price guarantees for protective masks during the COVID-19 crisis risked causing potential billion-euro losses for taxpayers.
- Ongoing supplier lawsuits over undelivered masks expose the federal government to multi-billion-euro liabilities and heighten the financial stakes of the stalled inquiry.