Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – Longer waiting times for funding after the flood of the century were unavoidable from the point of view of the ex-commissioner for reconstruction in North Rhine-Westphalia, Fritz Jaeckel. He knows that this has sometimes led to a “certain frustration” among those affected, he said Monday in the investigative committee of the Düsseldorf state parliament on the flood in summer 2021. Before tax money flows, however, damage reports must be available.
Jaeckel emphasized that he learned that from the flood disasters in Saxony in 2002 and 2013. At that time, the current general manager of the NRW chambers of industry and commerce was responsible for the flood events in the Free State in various functions. There, extensive checks after the flood of the century in 2002 resulted in “considerable irregularities” and investigations by the public prosecutor, he reported.
NRW Municipal Minister Ina Scharrenbach (CDU), who was invited to testify before the committee of inquiry for the third time, confirmed this lesson from the flood disasters in Saxony. Otherwise, not much new could be learned from the minister.
As in her previous witness hearings, the 46-year-old repeatedly pointed out that questions from the SPD opposition were not covered by the investigation order. There are different views on this, said the committee chairman Sven Wolf (SPD). The CDU, Greens, FDP and AfD refrained from asking the minister.
With short, sober answers, some of which sounded annoyed, Scharrenbach made it clear that she apparently did not think much of the SPD investigations. Nevertheless, its chairman René Schneider persistently questioned, among other things, the cooperation with Jaeckel and – from the SPD point of view – missing files.
When asked in what form the special representative appointed by the then Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) had informed her of the issues, Scharrenbach replied laconically: “Personally, by telephone – how people deal with each other in such situations. (….) With me anything goes. My door is always open.” There was no final report from the officer who worked in this role from August to the end of November 2021. Scharrenbach often complained that she did not understand what the questions were aimed at.