Parliament should control the government. If the ministries refuse to provide information to members of parliament, the dispute can end up in court. In Saxony-Anhalt, the Greens are suing the state government. It's about the lignite mining area.
Magdeburg/Dessau-Roßlau (dpa/sa) - The Greens politician Olaf Meister is sticking to the lawsuit against the state government of Saxony-Anhalt even after inspecting documents on the lignite mining area. This was announced by Meister of the German Press Agency on request.
The member of parliament sees his right to information and the associated parliamentary control of the state government curtailed. The background is several small inquiries from Meister about the lignite mining area in the south of the country. The Economics Ministry declined to answer individual questions, pointing out that the information touched on trade and business secrets of an affected company and that these were subject to contractually agreed confidentiality.
After filing his lawsuit in May, Meister was able to see some confidential information made available by the Ministry of Economic Affairs via the state parliament's security agency. However, one central problem remains, said the member of the state parliament from Magdeburg. "This information may not be used publicly." So he's sticking with the lawsuit. The so-called organ dispute proceedings are carried out before the state constitutional court in Dessau-Roßlau. A hearing date is not yet known.
Specifically, it is about information that affects the Mitteldeutsche Braunkohlengesellschaft (Mibrag). The company has to set up a special fund of 163.7 million euros to provide financial security for the renovation of the opencast mine and consequential damage. Among other things, the opposition Greens want to know how high the reserves made for the renaturation measures are currently. According to the master, if too little money were paid into the pot, this could have an impact on the state budget.
