Resignation demand: State Secretary Raab in committee
State Secretary Heike Raab, who has come under criticism, will make a statement to the media committee of the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament today following her critical letter about reporting by SWR. On Wednesday, the opposition CDU parliamentary group demanded the resignation of the SPD politician, who is one of the most important media politicians in Germany.
It concerns a letter Raab wrote on May 2 to SWR state broadcasting director Ulla Fiebig. The letter refers 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 was also discussed. He had resigned as Rhineland-Palatinate Interior Minister in connection with the Ahr Valley flood disaster, but is still the state chairman of the Social Democrats and was only re-elected as such at the beginning of November.
The CDU parliamentary group considers Raab to have abused his power by attempting to influence unwelcome reporting from the state chancellery and exert pressure from a position of power, parliamentary group leader Gordon Schnieder said on Wednesday. The State Chancellery emphasized that Raab had made a "factually justified critical comment regarding misleading content in an SWR studio interview". She had written the letter in her function as deputy chairwoman of the SWR administrative board.
- The opposition SPD parliamentary group has opposed the CDU's demand for Raab's resignation, arguing that she was acting within her role as a member of the SWR administrative board.
- The media coverage of this incident has sparked intense discussions within the German government and between various political parties.
- The parliamentary media committee has announced that it will invite both Raab and Fiebig to a hearing to discuss the allegations and the role of political parties in influencing media coverage.
Source: www.dpa.com
