Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – According to a newspaper report, the CDU parliamentary group is demanding parliamentary participation in the struggle for the planned partial sale of the electricity network operator Transnet BW. According to the CDU parliamentary group leader Manuel Hagel, the state parliament administration must check whether this is a basic business of the state that affects the participation rights of the parliament, the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” reported (Tuesday).
In a letter to the President of the State Parliament, Muhterem Aras (Greens), which the newspaper has seen, Hagel explained: “The sale of critical infrastructure directly affects the country’s key interests and is therefore extremely important for the country and its parliamentary representatives.” This could result in an obligation to participate or at least in an obligation to inform the state parliament. Aras had previously decided that the CDU parliamentary group could not judge this from a legal point of view. Hagel thinks this is wrong.
The dispute is reminiscent of the buyback of the old state stake in Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW) by Prime Minister Stefan Mappus (CDU) at the turn of the year 2010/2011. At that time, Mappus acquired EnBW shares worth almost five billion euros from the French energy company EDF – without informing the state parliament and without the constitutionally required factual examination by the Ministry of Finance. The deal was therefore subsequently classified as unlawful by the country’s constitutional court.
This time, too, EnBW is the focus. The company plans to sell 49.9 percent of its subsidiary Transnet BW. Half of this is to go to the state-owned KfW bank, while EnBW has started a bidding process for the other half. Transnet’s high-voltage grid, which is more than 3,000 kilometers long, is one of a total of four transmission grids in Germany. Wind power is to be transported from the north to the south of the republic on these electricity highways. They perform a task that is crucial for energy security and are indispensable for the transformation of industry in Baden-Württemberg, which depends on green electricity.
The partial sale of Transnet is intended to bring fresh money into the coffers. Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) recently said that the country did not have the means to get involved itself. CDU parliamentary group leader Hagel warned: “When expanding the network and raising capital, we must ensure that critical infrastructure does not fall into the hands of foreign investors. Geopolitical developments show how important this is.”
