Bundestag: Erneute Kritik an Spahn in der Unionsfraktion

In the Bundestag's Union faction, there is renewed criticism directed at former faction leader Jens Spahn. The absence of the 46-year-old during two days of the previous session week in plenary and the budget committee, according to information from the German Press Agency, has caused irritation among CDU and CSU parliamentarians.

Reports from "Stern," "Spiegel," and ARD indicate that a debate took place in the budget working group of the faction after several of the 14 members demanded Spahn's removal from the Bundestag committee. Faction leadership intervened, and it is reported that an unofficial probation period until the end of the year was agreed upon.

The faction leadership declined to comment. Christian Haase, the chairman of the budget group, also refrained from commenting on internal faction matters, stating, "I do not wish to comment on internal faction issues." Spahn and his office initially did not respond to inquiries from the dpa on Friday and Saturday. Spahn was removed from his position as faction leader in July after he and his wife became parents through a surrogate, an act that was met with significant disapproval within the party.

It is illegal in Germany. The Union supports maintaining the ban on surrogacy. At the beginning of September, the faction leadership announced that Spahn would be given a position on the budget committee. A photo of Spahn with his son on a beach in Sardinia, Italy, was published, allegedly during the ongoing Bundestag session week.

"Bild" later retracted the photo, stating it had been taken in a private setting, violating their own rules. The uproar that led to the faction meeting on Friday was not easily stopped. Spahn himself attributed his two-day absence to "family reasons," saying, "I was too cowardly" to provide a full explanation in a letter.