Revamped Take: A Scathing Indictment on the Greens' Internal Commission Report and Its Impact on Stefan Gelbhaar
Report to be approved by the Commissioner in vote.
Berlin (dpa) - A searing accusation from the internal commission of the Greens is making waves. They've skewered the party's approach to partly fabricated harassment allegations against former Berlin MP, Stefan Gelbhaar. The key finding? A naive strategy. The party board acknowledged their missteps, but defended their federal business office's work. The wrap-up of the Gelbhaar case is imminent, as previously reported by the "Stern."
The Aftermath for Gelbhaar and His Party
When allegations against Gelbhaar reached the federal party's ombuds office last year, they became public and an overnight sensation. Consequently, he lost his direct candidacy for the Pankow constituency in the upcoming federal election. Gelbhaar withdrew from the candidacy on the Berlin Greens' state list, and the report's authors, referring to Gelbhaar as S.G., articulated: "Gelbhaar's scandal brought significant reputation and trust damage to the entire Green Party. It could even have impacted the outcome of the federal election."
The Confidential Report's Exclusive Circulation
The Greens tapped former Schleswig-Holstein Minister of Justice Anne Lütkes and long-standing MP Jerzy Montag to investigate the matter on January 30. The report was presumably completed weeks ago and was published only in a 25-page summary, according to party officials, to protect personal data. However, the longer original version, approximately twice as long, is exclusively accessible to the federal board. Gelbhaar remains in the dark.
Gelbhaar expressed approval of the report, calling for cautious examination. Speaking to the German Press Agency about the events themselves, he said, "[False allegations were made] without adhering to the principles of the rule of law, there were massive confidentiality breaches, I wasn't notified, and no opportunity for a statement was provided." Gelbhaar further expressed that "the lack of clear regulations and structures made the ombuds procedure a Living Nightmare; it wasn't sufficient in terms of the rule of law."
A Crushing Verdict on Green Party's Ombuds Procedures
Lütkes and Montag offer a damning verdict on the current ombuds procedures of the Greens: "The existing ombuds procedures suffer from a lack of inner-party legitimacy, lack of procedural structures and order, substantial deficiencies in the rule of law, and semantic errors." They acknowledged using the ombuds procedure for political purposes, but strangely, failed to recognize it could be organized with a political agenda. Their aim appeared to be making Gelbhaar's candidacy on the state list more challenging or outright derailing it. Gelbhaar did not have the chance to defend himself in an internal party arbitration hearing.
The Federal Board of the Greens dismissed accusations of a naive handling of Gelbhaar’s allegations. "We recognized the potential for political manipulation of the reports from the outset, but could not solely base our risk assessment on it due to an already-known ombuds procedure at the federal level and the wide-ranging nature of allegations included in the reports," it stated. The politically responsible individuals at various levels always acted based on their knowledge and conscience, and with the information available at the time. Women came forward, including to the commission, reporting experiences that were not criminal but were perceived as boundary-crossing, inappropriate, or intrusive.
"Structurally Overwhelmed"
The Federal Board admitted being "structurally overwhelmed" in the face of the upcoming federal election. However, they maintained that "all involved handled the reports carefully and sensitively, given the challenging situation at the beginning of the federal election campaign."
The organization failed to fulfill its responsibility to all those involved - by "organization," it refers to the party. "Those affected include Stefan Gelbhaar, as well as those who reported, who were initially not trusted with their accounts following the unmasking of the false identity of another report."
Case Consequences for Gelbhaar
Gelbhaar, who previously won his constituency in Pankow as a direct candidate, is no longer a member of the Bundestag since the February election. His career as a parliamentarian has come to a halt. By mid-December, Gelbhaar had waived his candidacy for the state list with references to allegations against him that were still unspecific at the time.
Further media reports surfaced at the end of the year. At the beginning of January, Gelbhaar lost the repeat election for the direct candidacy. The ARD broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) retracted parts of its reports on harassment allegations against Gelbhaar as early as January.
Doubts about the Identity of One of the Women
At the core, there were doubts about the identity of one of the women who assured the broadcaster of the allegations. It was revealed that the RBB had never met the person. Gelbhaar consistently denied the allegations. The Berlin public prosecutor's office is investigating the relevant woman for the suspicion of slander.
Following the flawed reporting, the RBB faced personnel consequences. Editor-in-chief David Biesinger resigned, and RBB program director Katrin Günther also stepped down. The RBB is reportedly facing damage claims from the Green politician in the millions.
Greens Aiming to Reform Ombuds Structures
The Greens plan to revise their ombuds structures, with details to be presented by a working group. The party congress in November is expected to pass a resolution on this. The ombuds procedure in the Gelbhaar case will not be continued.
The chairpersons of the directly affected Berlin state association of the Greens, Nina Stahr and Philmon Ghirmai, stated that the state association had already begun developing complaint structures and contact points. A care concept will be proposed in the fall.
The scathing report from the internal commission of the Greens, centered around the ombuds procedures and the case of Stefan Gelbhaar, underscores the need for policy-and-legislation changes to strengthen the rule-of-law and ensure internal fairness within the party. Despite the findings of naive strategy, politics and general-news outlets continue to scrutinize the Greens' approach to dealing with such challenges, often casting a long shadow over the party's credibility and potential election outcomes.
