Two of Angela Merkel’s MPs resign in Covid face mask scandal

Two MPs in Germany’s ruling CDU party were forced to resign over the weekend after it emerged that they personally profited from various government deals to secure coronavirus face masks.

It comes ahead of two regional elections on Sunday in the western states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, which are considered vital by many to assess support for Angela Merkel’s successor Armin Laschet who was voted leader of the CDU in January.

Nikolas Löbel announced on Sunday that he was retiring from politics altogether after a company he owned was found to have made €250,000 (£214,305) by brokering procurement deals of face coverings for local authorities in Baden-Württemberg.

He released a statement to say he was leaving the CDU/CSU parliamentary group with “immediate effect”, and that he would not run again for parliament elections.

“To be a member of the German Bundestag and be able to represent my home town Mannheim is a great honour and an especially moral obligation,” he wrote in a statement. “With my actions I have failed to live up to these standards. For that I would like to apologise to everyone in this country.”

Mr Laschet, the CDU leader, swiftly called for Mr Löbel to leave parliament completely.

“All of us – politicians on the federal, regional and municipal level – are doing all we can at the moment to bring this country through the crisis and protect people,” he told German broadcaster ARD on Sunday.

“And whoever does business with this protection, and who personally enriches himself from that, is no representative of the people. And he must leave parliament at once.”

Another conservative member of parliament, the CSU’s Georg Nuesslein, resigned on Friday from his post as one of the deputy leaders of current chancellor Ms Merkel’s parliamentary group, over similar allegations. The CSU is the CDU’s Bavarian sister party.

Mr Nüsslein denies claims he took more than €600,000 (£514,104) from a consultancy firm for negotiating a big delivery of face masks to Germany from a Chinese supplier during the first wave of the pandemic.

He confirmed over the weekend he will not run to keep his seat in parliament in the September elections.

Prosecutors in Munich said they were investigating initial allegations of bribery and corruption against Mr Nuesslein, according to Reuters, which the politician vehemently denies.

Police searched premises in Germany and Liechtenstein last week, including Mr Nüsslein’s office in the Bundestag and his constituency office in the southern state of Bavaria, in connection with the case.

Markus Söder, Bavaria’s prime minister and leader of the CSU, seemed to agree with the CDU’s Mr Laschet, saying the accused MPs should stand down to protect people’s trust in the government.

“It is not to be tolerated when representatives of the people turn the crisis into business,” he tweeted. “All those involved should wipe the slate clean and draw the fundamental consequences.”

He added: “Anything else harms people’s trust in politics.”