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Minden/Berlin – State Secretary Sabine Döring, who has been temporarily retired, is not allowed to testify – as she had wished – next Tuesday in the Bundestag’s Education Committee on the so-called subsidy affair. This was decided by the Minden Administrative Court in an expedited procedure initiated by Döring.

The applicant is not entitled to be granted permission to testify in order to answer questions about the Federal Ministry of Education’s funding scandal at the committee meeting, the court in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) ruled. An appeal against the decision can be made to the Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Next Tuesday, the Education Committee will question Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP). Politicians from the Union faction had also requested an invitation from Döring for a special meeting.

Stark-Watzinger rejected this and referred to the duty of confidentiality for civil servants even after their employment has ended. Döring needs permission from her former employer to make a statement. In a recent letter to the committee chair, Döring stressed that she would like to make a “contribution to clarification and transparency”.

However, the administrative court explained today that the applicant could not assert a legitimate interest in being granted such permission to testify. The court also saw no violation of Döring’s own rights – such as her personal rights. According to the administrative court, the duty of confidentiality to which the applicant is subject as a former civil servant and which has constitutional status prevails.

The fact that Döring had to vacate her post was a consequence of the ministry’s handling of an open letter from university professors on the Middle East conflict.

Stark-Watzinger herself had come into focus: Emails revealed that someone high up in her department had asked for an investigation into the extent to which statements in the Berlin university professors’ letter of protest were relevant under criminal law and whether the ministry could cut funding as a consequence.

According to critics, such considerations are already an infringement on the freedom of science guaranteed by the Basic Law. The Union accused Stark-Watzinger of a lack of willingness to provide information. © dpa/aerzteblatt.de