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.
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.
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