Funding affair - Under cross-examination: the minister gives no answer to the crucial question
The Minister has come in black. At 11:59 pm, Bettina Stark-Watzinger enters Conference Room 3.101 in the Marie-Elisabeth-Luers-Haus of the Bundestag. The Education Committee has summoned her here to give answers regarding the so-called funding affair.
The 56-year-old FDP politician cannot be missed that in these days it's about nothing less than her political survival. She confidently answers the questions of the deputies – at least the ones she answers. A particularly important one she leaves open, even on repeated inquiry.
Who is responsible for creating a list of those university professors and lecturers in her ministry who had identified themselves with pro-Palestinian students through an open letter on May 8 and who also received funding from the ministry? And for what purpose was this list created?
The Minister herself was quoted by "Bild" with the words on May 8, stating that the open letter had left her "speechless." She emphasized that professors and lecturers must "stand on the ground of the Basic Law."
Did the ministry intend to cut off funding for politically inconvenient scientists?
The State Secretary had to go
The civil servant State Secretary Sabine Doering lost her job due to this question. Stark-Watzinger placed her in administrative leave after it was discovered that Doering had ordered a review. However, this process was soon stopped. Doering later explained in an email to her staff that she had been misunderstood. It was all about checking whether the demand in the open letter, to not allow a police raid on the campus, was constitutionally sound.
Before the Education Committee, Stark-Watzinger swears that she had nothing to do with the matter. "Such a review contradicts the principles of academic freedom," she emphasizes. She had only learned about the existence of such an order in her ministry from the media and had then had it investigated and decided that there was no longer a "basis of trust" for further cooperation with the State Secretary.
The Minister did not know about the name list
But even about the name list, Stark-Watzinger claims to have known nothing. When the stern asked about it a week ago, the ministry remained silent. Meanwhile, it has been confirmed. A specialist department had created it to be prepared for press inquiries, says Stark-Watzinger before the Education Committee: "This overview was not presented to me and also not passed on to third parties."
However, this does not satisfy the education political spokesman of the Union faction, Thomas Jarzombek (CDU). He asks three times who gave the order for the list. And receives no answer. All he gets is that the list was not ordered from the leadership level or from her personally, according to Stark-Watzinger. She refuses to say more, as it is also "about the protection of employees."
The AfD applauds Stark-Watzinger
From internal documents that the stern has access to, it becomes clear that, in addition to the responsible specialist department, the press office also requested on May 10, two days after the publication of the open letter, to check who among the signatories received funding from the ministry. "Routine" this was done to be able to react to press inquiries.
"The Minister, who publicly took such a clear stance against the professors, didn't know about that? The Left parliamentarian Nicole Gohlke calls that 'unbelievable' during the Education Committee session. But Stark-Watzinger remains firm in her presentation.
She receives support surprisingly from the AfD. The criticism of the open letter is "manipulated" by "a particular interested lobby", believes AfD parliamentarian Goetz Froemming: "It's worth considering what we can do against it."
"An opinion has no right to approval"
But from the right, Stark-Watzinger does not want to be co-opted. One must differentiate between freedom of opinion and academic freedom. This is not about "applause from one corner". She remains critical of the open letter, which is an expression of opinion: "An opinion has no right to approval." But her ministry grants funding based on "scientific excellence", not political viewpoint.
The members of the Education Committee are not convinced by the Minister's statements – except for one from her own faction.
"There are many questions that remain open today", complains CDU politician Jarzombek after the session. We will continue to deal with the matter. For Stark-Watzinger, that much was clear on Wednesday: the fight for survival is not yet over."
- During the cross-examination by the Education Committee, Thomas Jarzombek (CDU) repeatedly asked about the responsibility for creating the list of professors and lecturers who identified with pro-Palestinian students and received funding from the ministry.
- The AfD parliamentarian Goetz Froemming expressed support for Minister Stark-Watzinger, believing that the criticism of the open letter was being manipulated by a particular interested lobby.
- The list of professors and lecturers was created by a specialist department within the ministry to prepare for press inquiries, according to Minister Stark-Watzinger.
- NDR reported that Bettina Stark-Watzinger (CDU) faced intense questioning in the Bundestag over the funding affair, with the Education Committee expressing dissatisfaction with her answers and vowing to continue investigating the matter.
