CDU parliamentary group leader accuses state secretary of abuse of power
Due to a critical letter from Rhineland-Palatinate State Secretary Heike Raab regarding state political reporting by SWR, CDU parliamentary group leader Gordon Schnieder has accused the SPD politician of abusing her power. "Heike Raab acted on the letterhead of the state government from the state chancellery and from her function as state secretary and attempted to influence unwelcome reporting and exert pressure from a position of power," he said on Wednesday in Mainz.
To make matters worse, the "attempt at intimidation" was made in favor of Roger Lewentz as a party functionary of the SPD - this was a mixing of affairs of the state government and the SPD as a party from the state chancellery and also a "breach of democratic rules". Raab's resignation from her government offices and from all broadcasting committees was unavoidable.
The background to this is a letter Raab sent to SWR state broadcasting director Ulla Fiebig on May 2. According to the State Chancellery, she formulated a "factually justified critical comment regarding misleading content in an SWR studio interview". According to the State Chancellery, Raab wrote the letter in her role as Deputy Chairwoman of the SWR Board of Directors. The CDU parliamentary group considers this to be implausible.
- The CDU and SPD, two significant political parties in Germany, have been involved in a controversy related to media reporting and government influence.
- Following the CDU's criticism of a state secretary's alleged attempt to influence media reporting, discussions about power abuse and breaches of democratic rules in the German parliament have been intensified.
- The role of the media and their reporting, particularly in relation to government parties like the CDU and SPD, has become a subject of scrutiny and debate in light of this incident.
Source: www.dpa.com
