Ludwig Erhard summit: More and extra cancellations | FAZ | EUROtoday

The listing of outstanding “speakers” has now disappeared from the Ludwig Erhard Summit homepage. Some federal and state ministers have canceled or declare that they by no means agreed. Considering that the convention at Tegernsee in 2025 was nonetheless celebrated as a “place to be” – Katherina Reiche, who was now additionally unable to attend, even made a connection between her common participation and her appointment as Minister of Economics – that is now a surprisingly careless means of coping with the alleged “German Davos”. All the extra so as a result of it impacts a cupboard colleague: Wolfram Weimer, the Minister of State for Culture.

He organized the summit together with his spouse for eleven years. When he was appointed to workplace by Friedrich Merz, who has shut ties to him and Tegernsee, he withdrew from the group. This didn’t forestall the Erhard summit from being scrutinized extra carefully. The primary criticism was that they had been providing “influence on political decision-makers” for tens of 1000’s of euros. Weimer responded by handing over his shares within the “Weimer Media Group” to a trustee. This is a not unusual maneuver to deal with doable conflicts of curiosity. But that does not imply Weimer will not profit financially from the summit in the long term.

This might now be on the brink, though this was denied by the organizer. The precept that you must be there as a result of different prime decision-makers are there loses its validity with each rejection. Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder began together with his short-term withdrawal. That wasn’t shocking. On the one hand, as patron of the occasion, he was in a very uncovered place. On the opposite hand, he has already proven that he’s not afraid to place up a firewall on former allies if it will get too sizzling for him close to them. One remembers the ostracism of Alfred Sauter after his masks offers grew to become recognized.

Söder’s present resolution was preceded by an examination by the State Chancellery. The legal professionals there got here to the conclusion that the contact initiations at Tegernsee had been most likely not unlawful, however, as Söder stated, they had been in a “grey area”. Why does he now need to await a report commissioned by the Weimer Media Group to reach at a remaining evaluation? On the one hand, Söder means that the misconduct, if any, was tough to acknowledge. On the opposite hand, he shouldn’t need to sacrifice the summit evenly. Not solely had it developed a exceptional charisma. Rather, there was by no means any doubt that they had been on the appropriate political facet, that of the CSU and CDU.

There is nothing fallacious with stylish get-togethers per se. They have a convention in Bavaria. Keyword: Whoever is available in is in. But can this additionally apply to democracy? The politicians concerned had been at the least inexperienced in coping with this query and with the aura of Talmi-like that was palpable on the summit. They ought to cease that in the event that they need to curb the elite skepticism that’s at present being fueled by the AfD. In any case, what the much-vaunted trustworthy working individuals think about by forming wills just isn’t that they will purchase entry to politicians.