Budget Committee punishes government spokesman Kornelius for not appearing by cutting the budget

While government spokesman Stefan Kornelius was with Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the EU summit in Dublin, the Bundestag's budget committee sharply reprimanded him for his absence from the adjustment session: the budget of the Federal Press Office under him was subject to a significant cut.

The 20 million euro budget for “interdepartmental communication and coordination” was cut by 1 million, as “Politico” learned from committee circles. In addition, another 10 million of the Federal Press Office budget was blocked: Kornelius must therefore ask for it to be unblocked in one of the next meetings of the Budget Committee and can also apologize there personally.

Both suspensions are directly related to Kornelius’ absence from the budget session, as the committee circles emphasize. MPs reacted particularly indignantly to the fact that Kornelius had been absent from a shake-up meeting for the second time. “It can happen once, the second time it is contempt of Parliament,” committee sources told Politico. The budget cuts and blocks are an “educational measure”.

The MPs expect all heads of the relevant budgets to be present at the adjustment meeting in the budget committee. Ministers sometimes have to go to the committee early in the morning; Business trips and appointments abroad are considered taboo during this time. Kornelius had apologized by letter and also by telephone: He had to accompany the Chancellor to Dublin, where the meeting of the “European Political Community” took place on Thursday and the informal meeting of the EU heads of state and government on Friday.

However, this apology was not enough for the committee: Kornelius could also have sent one of the two deputy government spokespersons to Ireland with the Chancellor and come to the settlement meeting. “That’s a matter for the boss, he has to be present,” says committee circles. Kornelius did not want to comment on the matter.