If it were up to CDU Vice Linnemann, Germany would drastically reduce its civil service. The chairman of the civil servants' association sharply rejects this strategy. The public service must be strengthened, not demolished.
The head of the civil servants' association dbb, Ulrich Silberbach, has sharply criticized CDU Vice Carsten Linnemann. Linnemann had explained in a book that Germany was in a crisis and called for drastic cuts in the civil service. At the start of the dbb trade union day, at which Silberbach wants to be confirmed in office this Monday, he accused the deputy CDU boss of "official bashing for book marketing".
Linnemann immediately rejected the criticism. The CDU deputy said in Berlin that from 2012 to 2021 alone, according to the taxpayers' association, the federal government's personnel expenses rose by 9 to 36 billion euros. "And it's politics itself that sets a bad example. We now have more ministers, state secretaries and government officials than ever before." The official apparatuses in the ministries would continue to be inflated.
The CDU politician advocated that civil servants in Germany should only be employed in security-related and sovereign areas in the future. "Security authorities, the judiciary, financial administration and the armed forces. There is no question that there is a special relationship of loyalty to the state."
Silberbach had made extensive allegations against Linnemann. "The Linnaeans of this republic should better restore the constitutionality of civil service salaries," said Silberbach in Berlin. According to this, the employer is obliged to grant the civil servant a reasonable living wage. The dbb had accused several countries of inadequate rules.
"If the crises of the past few years have taught us anything, it's that we have to strengthen the public service, not demolish it," said Silberbach. There are actually big problems in Germany. These are a shortage of skilled workers, aging and a "decay of the public infrastructure". But he criticized: "All these 'reformers' can think of is dismissal of teachers and job cuts." Silberbach, who is a CDU member himself, said: "For a long time, the CDU/CSU was a guarantee for a strong public service." Now she seems to be concerned with deterring the next generation of professionals.
In his reaction, Linnemann said he would have been happy if Silberbach had sought talks with him and, if necessary, invited him to the union conference. "Then you could have discussed it openly." He was only concerned with bringing Germany forward. Meanwhile, a dbb spokesman announced that Linnemann had been invited to the trade union day.
The CDU Vice also got headwind from the sister party. Bavaria's Finance Minister Albert Füracker from the CSU said in view of the debate that the Bavarian state government stands by the professional civil service and its civil servants without any ifs or buts. During the corona pandemic, you saw how important these are for a functioning state. Thanks to them, aid was quickly approved and paid out. It is more important to de-bureaucratize Germany.
