Kretschmer causes irritation with public procurement law

The Saxon head of government Michael Kretschmer (CDU) has caused irritation and triggered criticism with his comments on the planned public procurement law. The German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) and the Left Party demanded clarification on Thursday. The background to this are statements made by Kretschmer at the New Year's reception of the Leipzig business community. The "Leipziger Volkszeitung" newspaper quoted him as saying: "We will not make a law against the vote of the business community. If the economy says no, that also means no."

Saxony's DGB boss Markus Schlimbach was annoyed and accused Kretschmer of lacking a sense for the interests of employees. "At the slightest headwind from the business community, Minister President Kretschmer buckles and turns against the employees in Saxony." The head of government should forget about "Sunday speeches" on improving working conditions and wages in Saxony in future. "Who is supposed to believe him?" asked Schlimbach. The years of wrangling over the public procurement law were undignified.

"Kretschmer likes to berate the actions of the traffic light in Berlin, but when he has to be specific in Saxony, he is just as brash and insensitive," said Schlimbach. With its refusal, the CDU is not only committing a breach of the coalition agreement, but is also backing the continuation of the low-wage strategy in Saxony. While employees were fighting for better wages and working conditions, Kretschmer had nothing better to do "than to side with the economy and continue to give public money to the low-wage employers by blocking the public procurement law".

"The CDU is accepting that Saxony will remain a low-wage state - hundreds of thousands of people will continue to work full-time without being able to make a living from it," criticized Stefan Hartmann, Chairman of the Left Party in Saxony. Public contracts are a key means of exerting pressure for higher wages. After all, the state is the largest client of the economy. Kretschmer is falling on his knees in front of the business lobby, revealing a strange understanding of democracy.

Officially, there is still no talk of an end to the procurement law. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the draft amendment to the law is still in the process. The Public Procurement Act was agreed in the coalition law between the CDU, Greens and SPD and is intended to tie the awarding of public contracts to innovation as well as social and ecological sustainability. Public contracts in Saxony are no longer to be awarded to the lowest bidder. The CDU fears unnecessarily more bureaucracy in the awarding of public projects.