Digging into the Spahn Mask Scandal: Greens Demand Transparency from Health Minister Warken
Health Minister Warken faces allegations from Greens party, claiming mismanagement and neglect in the health sector.
The Greens are on a mission to expose alleged wrongdoing in the mask deal during the pandemic and have their sights set on the current Health Minister, Nina Warken, a fellow party member of the former health minister, Jens Spahn. The Greens are demanding immediate access to an internal investigation report regarding mask procurement, calling it "scandalous" that Warken has yet to release the report.
Green Party faction leader Britta Haßelmann exclaimed, "The special report on mask procurement must be submitted to the parliament immediately, completely, and uncensored." She criticized the potential loss of billions in tax money spent on mask procurement, suggesting it may exceed the toll scandal of former Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer. The Green party is insistent on clarifying responsibility for decisions and contract awards made by former Health Minister Jens Spahn during the pandemic.
Behind the ScenesAccording to reports from NDR, WDR, and "Süddeutsche Zeitung," Spahn is under investigation in a 170-page report by special commissioner Margaretha Sudhoff, appointed by former Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach. This report implicates Spahn in awarding a 1.5 billion euro mask procurement contract to the logistics company Fiege, despite objections from the interior ministry and the government's corona crisis staff.
The controversy stems from the fact that Spahn chose Fiege, a company based in his home state of North Rhine-Westphalia, without a tender process. This decision led to a procurement project that ultimately did not materialize, resulting in a significant loss for the federal government. Many of the masks were later destroyed.
A History of ScandalThe push for transparency in the mask procurement investigations is not the first time Jens Spahn has been embroiled in a controversy. Reports suggest that Spahn is significantly implicated in the Sudhoff report, which has been available to the media since April 2025, but has yet to be published.
Source: ntv.de, as/AFP
- Jens Spahn
- Karl Lauterbach
- Nina Warken
- Corona crisis
- Face masks
- Britta Haßelmann
- The Commission, led by Karl Lauterbach, is also proposing to extend the scope of the investigation into face mask procurement during the corona crisis to include the science behind the selection of companies for contracts, possibly implicating Jens Spahn and Nina Warken.
- Amidst the continued scrutiny of the Spahn Mask Scandal, Green Party faction leader Britta Haßelmann has called for the Green party to broaden their investigations, suggesting that the controversy might extend to areas such as health-and-wellness, medical-conditions, and beyond general-news, including politics.
- As the investigation into the Spahn Mask Scandal deepens, with reports indicating potential corruption in the selection of logistics companies during the pandemic, one might ask if such incidents reflect a broaderpattern of unethical decision making in areas like science and politics, as the Greens are keen to explore.
