- Under Ursula von der Leyen, the management of the ministry was "a complete failure".
- Procedures for controlling consulting contracts that were not respected, and often concealed links of cronyism, of connivance between senior officials and private lobbyists.
- Ursula von der Leyen seemed to try to obstruct the parliamentary inquiry, when it was realized that her two business cellphones seized for the purposes of the investigation.
This scandal that Ursula von der Leyen thought to leave behind in Berlin
The German opposition publishes a damning investigative report into the responsibility of Ursula von der Leyen in a scandal that cost tens of millions of euros to the ministry she headed before leaving for Brussels.
Ursula von der Leyen, German Defense Minister, 06/24/2020
There is a lot of talk about the President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen in the German press on Wednesday.
Yes, because before leaving Berlin for Brussels last year, Ursula Von der Leyen was Angela Merkel's defense minister, and her departure was deemed as unexpected as it was hasty. today, a year later, an old case resurfaces from the time which has not finished pursuing her ... even in her European exile.
Because during these years when Ms. von der Leyen headed the German Ministry of Defense, it accumulated management problems, tens of millions of euros squandered without control to pay consultants, advisers and other private contractors . " There are nearly 100 million, " said the weekly Focus this morning, based on an investigation report which has just been made public and which is " devastating " for the former minister.
This report, it should be noted, was drawn up by the deputies from the opposition who participated in the parliamentary commission of inquiry into this affair. A year of work, and these conclusions of the Greens, Liberal Democrats and the Left Party deputies which are overwhelming, also taken up by Der Spiegel :
- under Ursula von der Leyen, the management of the ministry was "a complete failure " , says the report, with procedures for controlling consulting contracts that were not respected, and often concealed links of cronyism, of connivance between senior officials and private lobbyists.
The now president of the European Commission has always escaped, until then, saying that decisions were not taken at her level, that she was not aware of them and therefore that she could not be held to them. responsible. This is not what the opposition investigative report concludes, insists Der Spiegel . He highlights the inevitable responsibility of the former minister, who was kept informed of the problems encountered because of all these contracts, but never pretended to put an end to the bad practices.
Worse still, Politico recalls , Ursula von der Leyen seemed to try to obstruct the parliamentary inquiry, when it was realized that her two business cellphones seized for the purposes of the investigation had been conscientiously redacted of all messages. before being delivered to commission.
Now " there is hardly any doubt about the real reason which pushed Ursula Von der Leyen to flee to Brussels" summarizes the head of the investigation service of Die Welt Wolfgang Büscher for whom the former head of the Bundeswehr is very guilty, I quote, of having left these " parasitic birds that are the private consultants to make their nests in the Ministry of Defense ", of having given the keys to National Defense, through these lobbyists, to the interests of the big companies the armaments sector in particular.
Should we conclude, however, that the appointment of Ursula Von der Leyen will have been, as Wolfgang Büscher implies, only an "emergency exfiltration to hide the chaos she left behind "?
We are not there yet ... We must finally remember, with the Süddeutsche Zeitung , that the final conclusions of the parliamentary committee of inquiry as a whole (majority opposition) should not be delivered until next week. Already, the parties of the Merkelian grand coalition are united around Ursula Von der Leyen, they reject all these accusations and plead the ignorance of the former minister. In Berlin as in Brussels, one wonders how those who overwhelm the President of the European Commission and those who absolve her will manage to tune their violins.
In Australia, will the coronavirus have the skin of the last coins?
This is a fundamental trend which is accelerated by the health crisis we are going through: yellow coins (or silver or copper also for that matter) really no longer have the coast in Australia as the island edition of the Guardian notes . The demand for money has collapsed since the beginning of the year, it has even " almost disappeared " with the closure of stores during the confinement and the generalization of contactless payment for hygiene reasons.
The good old shrapnel finds itself accused of being a potential virus propagator, and therefore remains in the back of pockets and purses. Worse, tens of millions of coins have been taken out of the banking system by the Royal Australian Mint and may never come back into circulation ... because no one wants them anymore.
All this is ultimately quite logical, given the evolution of payment practices that we have already seen for years, continues the Australian academic Michael Theophilos in an article for the online journal The Conversation : the use of currency in Australia fell 53% between 2013 and 2019.
But, adds the historian, if it were to disappear as it seems to be emerging, then it would be a whole part of our relationship to political power that would disappear with it. For three millennia, the power to mint money has been part of the States, which use the coins to give substance to their hold over the daily life of their citizens. Through the symbols of the major dates and the great men that they have engraved in the metal, our leaders choose the image they want to give of themselves ... and of the Nation.
In short, the money you have in your pocket is political power which is touched, and which is slowly lost, replaced by contactless payment, without history ... and finally without State of the blue cards (which they do not have). proudly display the sad colors of your bank).
Finally, if you are a numismatist or just sentimental, rest assured: in the United States it is quite the opposite, still because of the pandemic there is a shortage of money, " coins have become the new toilet paper. "laughs the NPR public radio network .
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