Nikolas Löbel | |
|---|---|
 Löbel in 2018 | |
| Member of theBundestag forBaden-Württemberg | |
| In office 24 October 2017 – 10 March 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Egon Jüttner |
| Succeeded by | Kordula Kovac |
| Constituency | Mannheim |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1986-05-17)17 May 1986 (age 39) |
| Political party | CDU |
| Alma mater | Steinbeis-Hochschule Berlin |
Nikolas Löbel (born 17 May 1986) is a German politician of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of theBundestag from the state ofBaden-Württemberg from 2017 to 2021. He resigned in March 2021.[1]
In 2012, Löbel was a CDU delegate to theFederal Convention for the purpose of electing thePresident of Germany.
Löbel became a member of the Bundestag after the2017 German federal election, representing theMannheim district.[2] In parliament, he served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Subcommittee on Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.[3] In this capacity, he was his parliamentary group'srapporteur on theEuropean Union'sEastern Partnership.
In March 2021,Der Spiegel revealed that a company Löbel owned had earned a €250,000 commission by acting as a middleman between a mask supplier in Baden-Württemberg and two private, China related companies in the state amid theCOVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Facing public pressure, he subsequently resigned from his parliamentary seat and announced that he was retiring from politics.[4][5]
Following the2016 Baden-Württemberg state election, Löbel supported the formation of acoalition government of theGreen Party and the Christian Democrats underMinister-PresidentWinfried Kretschmann, the first state-level government of the two parties to be headed by a member of the Green Party in German history.[6]
Ahead of the Christian Democrats'leadership election in 2021, Löbel publicly endorsedJens Spahn to succeedAnnegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as the party's chair.[7]
As chairman of the Baden-WürttembergYoung Union, Nikolas Löbel came under criticism from both theCDU andAmnesty International, for a planned sponsorship of 2,000 euros by a student network from Azerbaijan at the state parliament of the Baden-Württembe Young Union in 2012, since the student network in question was funded by Azerbaijani state-owned oil and gas companySOCAR and other Azerbaijani companies with ties to its autocratic leader -Ilham Aliyev, who's been criticized for continued and serious violations of human rights.[8] As a result, the sponsorship fell through.[9]
In March 2021 several Bundestag members of the rulingUnion coalition became subjects of criminal investigations on the initial suspicion of corruption, for receiving payments from theAzerbaijani Laundromat money laundering scheme,[10][11][12] while others were implicated in allegations of corrupt lobbying practices known as "Caviar diplomacy" in the European Council or what became known as the "Azerbaijan affair" (German:Aserbaidschan-Affäre) in Germany.[13][14]
In this context Löbel's strong advocacy for Azerbaijani interests during the2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war betweenAzerbaijan andArmenia raised some eyebrows[15] as Löbel took a one-sided stance backing the position of Azerbaijan in the conflict.[16] He also dismissed criticism of human rights violations in Azerbaijan, stating that it is "not to be compared with a democracy based on the Western model", but "an important strategic partner" for Germany as a natural gas supplier and possible importer of "German products and goods".[17]
In April 2020, Löbel brokered contracts for protective mask deliveries from China to Germany by Bricon Technology GmbH.[18] According to his own statements, he received a commission of 250,000 euros for this deal.[19] Löbel described this as being in line with the market, but admitted that he lacked sensitivity.[20]
This information became known in the context of a series of articles published by German press in March 2021, revealing how several Bundestag members from the leading Union coalition had brokered deals forPPE with lucrative commissions for themselves,[19][21] which led to intense criticism from members of all parties in the Bundestag, including the CSU/CDU Union and led to what became known as the so-called "Mask Affair" (German:Maskenaffäre) scandal in Germany.[22][23][24]
The first article about Löbel having asked for a commission was published in Der Spiegel on 5 March 2021.[19] On the same day he stepped down from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag.[25] On 7 March 2021, in response to the "Mask Affair", he announced that he would resign from his Bundestag mandate as well as his membership of the municipal council in Mannheim on 31 August 2021 and not run again for the Bundestag[26] and he would also end his membership in the CDU / CSU parliamentary group with immediate effect and give up the district chairmanship of the Mannheim CDU.[27] He apologized for having "violated the obligations of his office with his conduct".[28] A number of politicians from different parties criticized him for not giving up his mandate immediately, pointing out that, in addition to regular MP benefits and allowances, he thus keeps his entitlement to an additional year of retirement allowances (German:Altersentschädig) for MPs, noted the independent organization Abanderswatch.de, citing the MPs Act. The CDU federal chairmanArmin Laschet criticized his "greed mentality" and distanced himself from MPs who "had nothing on their minds but to earn money."[29]
On 8 March 2021, in response to political and media pressure, Löbel announced that he was giving up his parliamentary mandate with immediate effect in order to avoid "further damage to his party" shortly before two state elections were about to take place in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate".[30] He left the Bundestag two days later.[31] The CDU district association Mannheim also announced on March 8 that Löbel had resigned from the CDU "with immediate effect".[32] At the end of March 2021, the Stuttgart Public Prosecutor's Office announced that after examining the allegation of "bribery of elected officials" in connection with the mediation of mask business, "due to a lack of initial suspicion, it would refrain from initiating investigative proceedings"; In their opinion, there is "in the present case no direct connection between the private activity and the activity as a member of the Bundestag."[33][34][35]
Die Junge Union Baden-Württemberg sieht sich innerparteilicher Kritik und Vorwürfen vonAmnesty International ausgesetzt, weil das staatlich finanzierte Studentennetzwerk von Aserbaidschan beim JU-Landestag als Sponsor auftritt.
Der monatelange Machtkampf in der Jungen Union soll nach der Wiederwahl des Vorsitzenden beendet sein. Nikolas Löbel muss nach dem Landestag in Sinsheim zwei tief gespaltene Lager versöhnen.
Weltweit wächst die Sorge vor einem neuen Krieg in diesem ältesten postsowjetischen Sezessionskonflikt im Südkaukasus.danach, am 26. November 2020 noch aktualisiert So in der Version vom20. November 2017 at theWayback Machine (archived 10 June 2017).
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Der zurückgetretene Bundestagsabgeordnete Nikolas Löbel sieht sich einem Ermittlungsverfahren der Staatsanwaltschaft ausgesetzt. Es besteht ‚ein Anfangsverdacht für die Begehung mehrerer Straftaten', darunter Untreue.
| International | |
|---|---|
| People | |
