Shortly before a possible decision by the Senate of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft on a new management, Green members of the Bundestag have called for a new beginning. The Federal Court of Auditors had made serious accusations against the Executive Board of Fraunhofer and the current President Reimund Neugebauer of having caused enormously high expenses and travel costs over the years, some of which had been spent illegally.

Heike Schmoll

Political correspondent in Berlin, responsible for the "Bildungswelten".

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"For more than three months, the devastating second report of the Federal Court of Auditors on countless serious violations of internal and external rules has been known," said the chairman of the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment, Kai Gehring (Greens), the F.A.Z. Because of the seriousness of the misconduct, the new beginning is long overdue. The Senate is now obliged to end the progressive loss of reputation.

In view of the repeated and blatant misconduct of board members, in addition to the election of the new leadership, the immediate replacement of the incumbent president must follow in order to enable a serious new beginning. Fraunhofer needs modern governance, effective compliance regulations and an up-to-date understanding of management and supervision, Gehring demanded.

Bruno Hönel, Green budget officer and responsible for the budget of the Federal Ministry of Education (BMBF), told the F.A.Z.: "A new start for the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, in which tax funds are spent appropriately and violations of regulations are structurally prevented, can only be credibly done without President Neugebauer." In this decision, the credibility of Federal Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) is at stake, who had already demanded personnel consequences weeks ago.

At the beginning of March, members of the Bundestag passed a so-called resolution in the Budget Committee, which calls for far-reaching consequences both at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (FhG) and at the BMBF's controlling department and is to be implemented by the beginning of September. "It is unacceptable that the FhG degenerates into a self-service shop and that tax funds are systematically used for private benefit without any consequences," said Hönel.