Politics

The Christian Democrat Union and the Quandt Quandry.

Following three generous contributions by members of the Quandt family of industrialists totalling 690,000 Euros shortly after the elections in Germany, the CDU is facing accusations of implementing lobbied policies. The Bundestag accounting department web-page notified the details of three contributions of 230,000 Euros each made by three family members that were credited to the party account on October 9. The party confirmed the gift but stated that the Quandt family have given private financial support to the party for years, whether or not it was in government. There is, therefore, no link with any given government measure states the CDU. Johann Quandt, his son Stefan Quandt and daughter Susanne Klatten together possess 46.7% of BMW. The monetary gift raised eyebrows because it arrived almost to the day when the federal government was blocking initiatives at EU level aimed at making legislation on exhaust gas emission of European cars more stringent. On October 14 the federal government filibustered talks on the agreement among European Environment Ministers. Those with most to gain by delaying the proposed legislation are German manufacturers of large cylinder cars such as BMW, but also Daimler, Audi and Porsche. On October 15, the Greens and “die Linke” were talking about a political sell-out.

The European Union accepts the verdict on the Volkswagen law

The European Commission failed to convince the judges in Luxemburg in their attempt to overturn the special rules of the Volkswagen law of 53 years ago., On October 22, the European court confirmed the special role that the Land of Lower Saxony enjoys in VW. The decision also involves non-payment of the fine requested by the Commission that could have been as much as 70 million Euros. A spokesperson in Brussels points out while the Commission disagrees with the law shielding the Volkswagen group from hostile takeovers, the ruling handed down by the European judges will be respected. The Commission will make no move to counter the VW law. The Commission pointed out that Germany was very reluctant to bend to an earlier ruling on VW . The European Court, instead, was convinced that Germany had respected the earlier verdict unreservedly.