Union faction: Anger at Jens Spahn because of his absence from the budget committee

Anger over Jens Spahn is growing in the Union faction. According to information from “Spiegel” and ARD, the former CDU parliamentary group leader is said to have been on the verge of losing his place in the powerful budget committee. The trigger was photos showing him with his baby at the airport on the holiday island of Sardinia, while he had missed a committee meeting.

It was his second missed appointment. He had missed a previous committee meeting because his child was ill.

The fact that pictures from Sardinia appeared a short time later apparently caused the mood in parts of the group to change. According to information from the ARD capital studio, at a later special meeting a majority of Union budget members even advocated removing Spahn from the influential committee.

According to “Spiegel”, there were several crisis discussions to prevent an open scandal.

Particularly explosive: Spahn resigned as parliamentary group leader just a few weeks ago after it became known that he became a father through surrogacy. His new job: the seat on the influential budget committee, which controls the budgets of all federal ministries. According to “Spiegel”, this personality had already caused dissatisfaction among some Union MPs.

It is reported from faction circles that “double standards” were discussed again in WhatsApp groups and in the corridors of the Bundestag. Several MPs recalled that as parliamentary group leader, Spahn attached great importance to attendance requirements and repeatedly warned colleagues to be disciplined. Now, of all people, he was missing from an important meeting.

A Union MP told “Spiegel”: “Similar to the surrogacy affair, it became obvious that Jens Spahn himself does not adhere to the rules that he publicly preaches.”

However, Spahn apparently received support from his successor at the top of the parliamentary group, Thorsten Frei. Both “Spiegel” and the ARD capital studio report that Frei is said to have campaigned for Spahn to stay. Accordingly, the CDU politician receives a kind of probationary period until Christmas.

During this time he should show that he can reliably carry out the demanding committee work despite his family situation. Spahn's spokesman rejected the criticism when asked. Accordingly, the CDU politician was in the Bundestag on Monday, Thursday and Friday during the week in question. As usual, there was representation for the committee meeting. The group leadership did not want to comment.