Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - Because of his involvement in the Expo affair, the technology officer of the Ministry of Economics, Wilhelm Bauer, has had his office rest since February 2022 - now he is finally retiring. The background is that when he reached the retirement limit, he asked the head of department Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut (CDU) to release him from his job at the end of January, a spokeswoman for the CDU politician told the German Press Agency in Stuttgart on Wednesday. With him, the Ministry of Economics is losing an extremely valuable and important source of inspiration.
The position of technology officer will be filled again. Talks are currently underway, the ministry said.
At the same time, Bauer was managing director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Ergonomics and Organization (IAO), which, together with the Chamber of Engineers and the Freiburg Wirtschaft Touristik und Messe GmbH (FTWM), is at the center of the debacle surrounding the cost explosion for the pavilion in Dubai.
The Baden-Württemberg House at the Expo in Dubai, which cost around 15 million euros, was originally the responsibility of three partners - the Chamber of Engineers, Fraunhofer and FWTM - and was advertised as a sponsorship-based project "from business for business". The green-black state government should initially only accompany the project politically and only contribute 2.8 million euros for the exhibition. However, she was forced to bear most of the costs for the construction of the pavilion.
In July 2021, Bauer was appointed technology officer at the Ministry of Economic Affairs. He received an expense allowance of 1000 euros per month for his work. In addition, the post was equipped with an office with two employees. He advised politicians on questions of innovation. In the last legislative period, the scientist was still the technology officer of the state government. However, this had abolished the post with the start of the renewed green-black coalition in 2021 for reasons of economy. The other state representatives were also affected by this.
The SPD faction deputy Stefan Fulst-Blei again called for the abolition of the technology officer. "Technology policy is a core task of the ministry and does not need an extra officer." The FDP argued similarly. The spokesman for economic policy, Nico Reith, said that at the same time he would like the Ministry of Economic Affairs to be more involved in dealing with the expo fiasco. The claims for damages, which are still outstanding, once again paint an impressive picture of how chaotic management is there.
