CDU parliamentary group demands resignation of State Secretary Raab
The Rhineland-Palatinate CDU state parliamentary group is demanding the resignation of State Secretary Heike Raab due to a critical letter on state political reporting by Südwestrundfunk (SWR). This demand was agreed unanimously, the opposition faction announced in Mainz on Wednesday. The SPD politician Raab should also withdraw from all broadcasting committees. The CDU sees the letter as undue influence.
The background is a letter from Raab dated May 2 to SWR state broadcasting director Ulla Fiebig. According to the State Chancellery, she formulated a "factually justified critical comment regarding misleading content in an SWR studio interview". Raab wrote the letter in her role as Deputy Chairwoman of the SWR Administrative Board.
The "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" and the "Trierischer Volksfreund" first reported on the letter, which referred to a program on public SWR television on April 11. In a broadcast with a political correspondent from SWR, the political future of SPD politician Roger Lewentz, who had resigned as Rhineland-Palatinate Interior Minister in connection with the Ahr Valley flood disaster, was also discussed.
Among other things, the correspondent made the following assessment: "This is probably unique in Germany that a state interior minister who has to take political responsibility for the many deaths caused by this terrible Ahr disaster remains state chairman of his party." According to media reports, Raab criticized this statement in particular in the letter. Lewentz was only re-elected chairman of the Rhineland-Palatinate SPD at the beginning of November.
Raab is State Secretary in the State Chancellery and the state's representative to the federal government and for Europe and the media. She is the coordinator of the Broadcasting Commission of the federal states and one of the most important media politicians in Germany. As a representative of the state, she is also a member of several SWR committees.
- The government is facing pressure from the CDU parliamentary group, as they have demanded the resignation of State Secretary Raab due to her criticism of a Südwestrundfunk (SWR) report.
- The SPD, being the opposition party in Rhineland-Palatinate, has not commented on the CDU's demand for Raab to step down from her role in Parliament and SWR committees.
- The media attention around the situation has raised questions about the role of politicians in influencing the reporting of state broadcasting agencies, such as SWR, and the potential impact on political party narratives.
Source: www.dpa.com
