Katherina Reiche: Ministry of Economics helps firm with zu Guttenberg participation | EUROtoday

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE), led by Katherina Reiche (CDU), is supporting a start-up by which Reiche’s companion Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is concerned. The “Spiegel” reported this on Wednesday. Accordingly, a payout of 287,236 euros was accepted to the corporate GovRadar GmbH on September eighth.

According to “Spiegel” info, Guttenberg joined GovRadar in 2023. His share within the start-up is just one %, however it may shortly improve in worth. The firm claims to have the ability to scale back the hassle concerned in creating tender paperwork in authorities by 90 %. This means it may benefit from the large improve in public spending.

The final revealed annual monetary statements for 2023 solely present gross sales revenues of round 900,000 euros – so the 287,236 euros might be of nice significance for the corporate in its early section, writes the information journal. The ministry expects the funds to be paid out from January 2026.

A ministry spokeswoman didn’t need to reply a direct query about whether or not the minister knew concerning the funding for GovRadar and Guttenberg’s participation within the firm – and in that case, what steps she had taken to avert a doable battle of curiosity.

The funding was supplied as a part of the “Central Innovation Program for SMEs,” a spokeswoman instructed WELT. “In principle, there is no direct contact between companies and the ministry and the ministry does not deal with individual applications – as was the case in this case.” The award was made completely primarily based on the necessities of the funding pointers and by a challenge sponsor. “The ministry was not involved in the funding for GovRadar.”

However, the spokeswoman admitted that the ministry’s central procurement division contacted the corporate independently primarily based on a media report on GovRadar. Accordingly, the corporate has supplied an AI resolution for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. “Therefore, the department independently contacted the company to obtain further information without obligation. The appointment took place at working level. There was no connection to ZIM funding,” a spokeswoman instructed WELT.

“Already unthinkable for private reasons”

Guttenberg denies having performed a task in acquiring the most recent funding. “The assumptions made there have no basis,” the “Spiegel” quotes Guttenberg. He wouldn’t “employ” members of the federal authorities for any of the businesses by which he was invested – “especially not my partner.” “Anything else would be unthinkable for personal reasons.” He would additionally “generally not work as a lobbyist”. GovRadar acknowledged that Guttenberg was “at no time” concerned with the aforementioned federal ministries or funding purposes for the corporate.

The funding of 287,236 euros accepted in September from funds from the Ministry of Economics was not the primary of its variety. According to the BMWE, GovRadar already obtained 110,858 euros in 2024, and an extra 40,063 euros flowed in 2025, paid out in three tranches from July to October. The Ministry of Finance additionally supported GovRadar with 70,000 to 80,000 euros final 12 months, because the Bundestag foyer register reveals. The firm obtained a rental subsidy of fifty,000 to 60,000 euros from the Bavarian State Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Tourism.

A couple of days earlier than Reiche took workplace in May, Reiche and Guttenberg introduced that they’d been in a relationship “for quite some time.” Guttenberg resigned from all political positions in 2011 after a plagiarism scandal.