AfD committee of inquiry into funding practices at the Ministry of Social Affairs

The parliamentary groups in the Saxon state parliament differ in their assessment of the results of the committee of inquiry into funding practices at the Ministry of Social Affairs. While the AfD is convinced that the SPD-led ministry exerted political influence on the allocation of funding to refugee aid associations, all other parties in the state parliament see no evidence of this. The AfD suspected that something was rotten in Saxony, said CDU politician Geert Mackenroth and responded with Shakespeare: "Much ado about nothing". The relevant funding guideline had indeed shown deficits and mistakes had also been made. However, this was already known from an audit report by the Court of Auditors. There were no indications of criminal activity.

Factions see AfD failure with committee of inquiry

Representatives of the Left, Greens and SPD expressed similar views to Mackenroth. Kerstin Köditz (Left Party) described the committee of inquiry as a "political campaign". The AfD could have set it up as early as summer 2023, but waited until the election campaign to discredit democratic associations. Green Party interior politician Valentin Lippmann said in the direction of the AfD benches: "They failed because of the timetable, themselves and reality." The AfD was never interested in clarification. SPD MP Sabine Friedel explained: "The committee was unnecessary. All the facts were on the table right from the start (...) There was nothing left to clarify."

AfD sees duty of neutrality violated in the allocation of funding

AfD parliamentarian André Barth regretted that the committee of inquiry only had a few months to carry out a comprehensive investigation into the "deep funding swamp". "Obviously, the "Integrative Measures" funding guideline was not only intended to promote integration, but also the SPD-affiliated political front," he suspected and spoke of a violation of political neutrality. AfD parliamentary group leader Jörg Urban left it open on Tuesday whether his parliamentary group would take up the issue again in an investigative committee in the new legislative period. For the AfD, political influence has been proven, said Urban. However, it is always a "question of interpretation".

The committee of inquiry was set up in February at the instigation of the AfD parliamentary group. When presenting a special report in 2023, the Court of Auditors had already attested that the Ministry of Social Affairs had acted unlawfully to an "extraordinary extent". The auditors did not find any evidence of personal misconduct on Köpping's part. The ministry reacted quickly and changed the funding guidelines. In addition, the state secretary responsible, Sebastian Vogel, was retired.