- Baden-Württemberg makes progress on transparency
Baden-Württemberg has made progress in the transparency of its political work, but there is still room for improvement. This is the finding of the organization Transparency International Germany in a new study. None of the states perform as well as the federal government, which Transparency praises for its overall good lobbying and transparency rules, scoring 71 percent. At the top of the states, Thuringia scores 69 percent, with the organization praising the state for introducing a lobby register in June. The following states, Bavaria (54 percent) and Baden-Württemberg (53 percent), have increased their distance from the middle field thanks to new cooling-off period regulations.
Cooling-off period introduced, but...
In Baden-Württemberg, stricter rules apply to ministers and state secretaries when they switch to lucrative jobs in companies. Since 2023, they must report new jobs in the state government within the first one and a half years after leaving politics. If there is a risk of public interest being compromised, the government can delay the job change by one year, and in serious cases, by one and a half years.
Transparency International Germany notes that the declaration rules (codes of conduct) in Baden-Württemberg are insufficient in disclosing the secondary incomes of members of parliament. Moreover, there is no effective way to penalize violations of disclosure obligations - only a notification of the inspection result to the factions.
The study examined four criteria for an honest and transparent politics: whether a state has a lobby register and how it is designed, whether the involvement of lobbyists in laws is disclosed through a so-called legislative footprint, whether there are cooling-off periods for government members and top officials when they switch from politics to the private sector, and what codes of conduct, disclosure obligations, and bans, for example, for secondary activities of members of parliament exist. Each of these criteria accounted for 25 percent of the overall evaluation.
The Commission from Transparency International Germany criticizes the insufficient declaration rules in Baden-Württemberg for not effectively disclosing the secondary incomes of its members of parliament. The need for stronger penalties for violations of disclosure obligations was also highlighted by The Commission.
