According to the regular polls conducted by the influential organization Transparency International, if in 2003, 45% of Germans forecasted the growth of systemic corruption; in 2007, 69% of the population voiced their confidence in the aggravation of the situation with corruption. An overwhelming majority of the residents of Germany - 77% - have expressed their discontent with measures of the Government to combat corruption. Results of the polls were mirrored in a report of the organization titled “Corruption Barometer Worldwide”.
Conclusions of the Transparency International were shared by many international organizations, particularly the Council of Europe which harshly criticized the political line of the Merkel Government. In April 2012, the CoE Group of States against corruption (GRECO) submitted a special report on corruption in Germany. GRECO was set up in 1999 by the European countries to investigate the corruption situation in the CoE member-States.
Only in 2007, in the eve of the decision to examine the situation by the CoE, about 10,000 bribe-related crimes were committed, in accordance with data provided by the Federal Police of Germany. According to Jorg Zirke, Head of the Office, as a result of economic crimes, the German treasury lost approximately 6 billion euros.
GRECO experts concluded that one of the main factors that predetermined the growth of systemic corruption in Germany was the inadequacy of the country’s legislation, in particular, a criminal law to combat economic crimes. This is why financial and economic crimes make up 2% of total figure. Hansjörg Elshorst, former head of the Transparency International in Germany, said that “a bribe is a part of business in Germany.” Besides, many experts in the German corruption, particularly, those from the Business Crime Center, headquartered in Frankfurt, stress the discrepancy between the income of bureaucrats as indicated in their income statements and the property they own, which testifies to their corruption activity. In the experts’ judgment, this tendency has intensified over the past few years.
Having regard to the fact that in the second half of 2012 the corruption in Germany has cast deep roots, Sylvia Schenk, today’s head of the German branch of the Transparency International, declared that the corruption in the country assumed so monumental proportions that “first ever in the history of Germany the country’s mass media are assessed, in terms of corruption, even more negatively than Bundestag.” According to the Transparency International expert, Germany is deficient in “integrated approach to the solution of corruption problems in the country.”
The CE concluded that these actions of the German Government and Parliament contribute to the creation of the caste of the elite to which no punishment for financial and corrupt crimes is extended. The report also criticized the vicious legislation, which enables political parties of Germany not to report back to the President of Bundestag unless they exceed Euro 50,000.
The UN Position
Besides, the German authorities refuse to ratify the UN Convention against Corruption, which they signed in 2003. This unprecedented decision of the legislative branch of the State power of Germany caused a harsh criticism of all the UN structures, particularly, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
This year, the German business-elite appealed to the Bundestag with a request to ratify the Convention. An open letter of the heads of 35 largest corporations was published in all German mass media and tried to persuade MP’s to join the Convention ratified by 161 states, and, therefore, to strengthen anti-corruption measures.
Yet according to the UN data, more than 13% of Germany’s population is living below the poverty line,. The Government of Germany claims that the unemployment in the country increasingly grows to exceed 10% in 2013.
Corruption scandals did not skirt around Guido Westerwelle, principal liberal of Germany, leader of the Free Democratic Party and Foreign Minister of the State. On the eve of enactment of the Law on VAT Reduction in Hotel Business by 12%, the Party of Westerwelle received in January 2010 a donation worth 1.1 million euros from a monopolist group Moevenpick. The money was granted by famous German oligarch, baron August von Fink. A representative of Westerwelle admitted a fact of the money receipt as saying that the Party, pursuant to its Charter, was entitled to accept donations. The German Foreign Minister justified the enactment of this law by the risk to lose 100.000 jobs. The German opposition and the public did not accept such explanation, saying that “the government exploits the state as a sinecure” (Renata Koenast, leader of “Greens”.)
The case of the Berlin airport
The construction of the Willy Brandt Berlin airport became a ‘talk of the town’ not only in Germany but in the entire Eurasia as well. The history of airport construction is an evident example of the fact that the systemic corruption in Germany petrifies the formerly effective managerial mechanism of large-scale projects. Why was the implementation of this mega-project of the Merkel Government incomplete?
A prototype of the Berlin airport was recognized by the architectural elite to be the world’s up-to-date structure. The point was about the construction of the whole city with an area of 1,500 ha, including an air terminal, overhead interchange, underground station, and numerous storeys with shops and offices. The new airport was designed to substitute three currently operating airports.
Initially, it was planned to complete the construction and open the airport in 2010; however, afterwards, the opening date was rescheduled for 2011, then 2012 and, finally, March 2013. Recently, the German authorities declared that the airport was sure to open in October 2013. The authorities were in a hurry to announce an exact date - October 27, 2013. However, an overwhelming majority of German population is confident that the airport will not be completed even in the end of 2013. Even local authorities of Berlin share this pessimism. The problem is that the new airport may become insolvent prior to its opening, as the authorities have confessed that more than 1 billion euros is short to complete the construction. Even worse, there are serious infrastructural problems arising from wiring, firefighting, contractors, management, etc. Instead of dismissal, the head of the construction Reiner Schwarz earns some 550,000 euros per year. According to Anton Hofreighter, head of Bundestag Transport Committee, every month of downtime costs developers at 20 million euros. A new postponement will cost 120 million euros. As viewed by experts from the anti-corruption organization “Business under Control”, the Berlin airport corruption costs exceed 3 billion euros.
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