Friendship Updates

In the realm of German politics, a series of appointments and salary increases have raised eyebrows, particularly within the Federal Ministry of Health.

Since spring 2020, the position for a deputy department head for European and international affairs has remained vacant. The role was eventually filled by Paul Zubeil, a friend of Health Minister Jens Spahn, after no internal candidates applied. Zubeil's previous employer was the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA), focusing on issues such as contraceptive supply in developing countries.

The appointment of Zubeil was met with criticism, and questions regarding his salary were posed, but Health Minister Spahn's adviser, Leyck Dieken, did not respond. Dieken, who previously held the position of CEO at Gematik, a company almost exclusively financed by statutory health insurance, saw his basic salary increase from 300,000 euros to almost 390,000 euros in 2020, including variable salary components and pension.

Criticism of Leyck Dieken's appointment was harsh, with Transparency International Germany stating that it destroyed trust in the electronic patient record. After his tenure at Gematik, Leyck Dieken returned to the pharmaceutical industry, taking a position as a lobbyist at Bridges, a Berlin-based lobbying agency known for its political influence on health policy.

The Federal Ministry of Health commissioned the personnel consultancy firm Kienbaum to find a new CEO for Gematik in April 2019, but the exact process of Leyck Dieken's appointment remains unclear. Spahn's spokesperson stated that the appointment was made through a multi-stage external selection process led by a personnel agency and accompanied by the responsible department in the ministry. However, questions about whether it might appear detrimental to set a friend in the position and then double his salary were left unanswered.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has chosen to remain silent on the matter, stating that he would prefer not to say anything publicly about the so-called "Spahn complex." The long-standing acquaintance between the couples Streeck-Zubeil and Spahn-Funke, dating back to university days, has added fuel to the speculation.

In a separate development, three personal meetings between Health Minister Spahn and Bridges, the agency where Leyck Dieken now works, were recorded in his calendar. The PR for the Heinsberg study, conducted by Streeck, was handled by an agency called Story Machine, founded by former BILD editor-in-chief Kai Diekmann and entrepreneur Michael Mronz. The PR action was funded, in part, by Deutsche Glasfaser, a company based in Borken, the constituency of Jens Spahn.

As the public continues to seek clarity on these matters, the events remain a topic of ongoing discussion and scrutiny within German politics.