Overview
- The Health Ministry’s 2020 procurement of 5.8 billion masks for €5.9 billion left more than half unused, creating disposal and storage costs of €517 million by 2024.
- Suppliers have filed about 100 lawsuits seeking roughly €2.3 billion in unpaid contracts plus interest, with cases pending at the Federal Court of Justice and regional courts.
- Minister Nina Warken told the budget committee that legal liabilities now surpass the federal reserve of €1.4 billion and conceded that the government’s defense strategy has fallen short.
- Opposition Greens and Left factions are demanding a full parliamentary inquiry, but the CDU/CSU–SPD coalition rejects it in favor of an expert commission.
- The Bundesrechnungshof’s findings and hearings with special investigator Margaretha Sudhof are guiding Bundestag committees as they scrutinize pandemic-era procurement practices.