Clearing the Political Air

In recent weeks it seems as if not a day passes in Germany’s capital without some new political scandal making front-page news.

First it was social democratic Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping's unceremonious exit in light of his financial ties to arms lobbyist Moritz Hunziger. Then, Green Party parliamentary member Cem Özdemir, his ties to Hunziger and use of work-related frequent flier miles for personal trips. Özdemir handed in his resignation after the disclosure.

Now, Gregor Gysi, Berlin city-state’s economics minister, has admitted to abusing his frequent flier miles as well during his time in Parliament.

The revelations, as predicted, have prompted proposals by the German Parliament and Schröder’s coalition government this week that seek to crack down on the problems. Reform is being proposed in two areas.

Tough talk, but will anyone listen?

The first is the Bundestag protocol asking parliamentarians to show the Bundestag administrative wing how many frequent flier miles they’ve earned on official business. The second is calls by Schröder’s government to make extra sources of income earned by parliamentarians - that could have an effect on a lawmaker’s mandate - open to public perusal.

This is in direct reference to Scharping, who received 71,600 euro ($72,000) from Hunziger. Scharping says the money was for a book contract and was agreed upon before he entered his post as defense minister. The new law would make such payments open to public scrutiny, and available in the Parliamentary Handbook and on the Bundestag web site.

"It's a question of making representatives' personal finances more transparent,” Franz Muentefering, general secretary of the Social Democratic Party told reporters. “Relevant information should not only be reported to the Parliamentary President, but published in the Parliamentary Handbook itself."

Such calls are hardly new, said Dr. Anke Martiny, deputy director of Transparency International and a former member of parliament.

“These discussions have gone back decades,” said Martiny, who ended a 16-year term in parliament in 1989. “There have always been scandals and subsequent proposals to tighten the laws.”

Stiff opposition

Though the new bill is an important step and has a good chance of being passed before the September 22 elections, Martiny says all extra income, not just that possibly interfering with a parliamentarian’s mandate, should be reported.

”We are asking that all the regular income earned by parliamentarians should be open to the public’s eyes,” Martiny told DW-WORLD.

The opposition Christian Democratic Union and liberal Free Democratic Party have come out against the coalition proposal. Free Democrats leader Guido Westerwelle says the bill could prevent certain professionals, such as the self-employed, wanting to come into parliament.

”I’m against transparent parliamentarians,” he told reporters. SPD head Muentefering says he thinks the government can pass the bill without their support.

Conservative chancellor candidate Edmund Stoiber said a solution should be found only after the elections.

Cracking down on parliamentarians

It is then the Bundestag that will also reconfigure its policy in frequent flier miles, said a Bundestag speaker. The original policy, conceived in 1998, asked lawmakers to report the number of miles they got as a bonus with each official trip. But the parliamentarians weren’t required to tell them.

”There were, of course, no sanctions,” a Bundestag speaker told DW-WORLD.

Under a new policy proposal, the reporting of bonus miles would be mandatory. Whether parliamentarians would still feel pushed to report them, remains up in the air.

"We'll have to see," said the speaker. "Like with many things, the political will has to still be there."