Convention for Germany

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The Convention for Germany was a non-partisan and independent advisory body for politics that existed from 2003 to 2018. Members were well-known people from politics and business. The registered association was based in Berlin and was recognized as a non-profit organization.

The inaugural meeting took place in Berlin on September 22, 2003, as did the kick-off press conference on October 3, 2003. The Convention for Germany ceased its activities on December 31, 2017. The main reasons for this were the death of the long-standing figurehead Roman Herzog and falling proceeds from contributions and donations. Klaus von Dohnanyi , who was a member of the convention for Germany as its deputy chairman for many years, spoke at the closing event on November 23, 2017 of the "balance of an honorable failure".

aims

The association had "set itself the goal of making suggestions for improving the ability to reform [...]". The Convention was "not about reforms in individual areas such as education, social security systems or the labor market", but "about a fundamental 'reform of reform ability'", a so-called "mother of all reforms" ", about Germany" more dynamic ”And“ more competitive ”.

The changes in decision-making processes and constitutions in other countries and the Austria Convention were referred to as models .

subjects

The association dealt with the topics of federalism reform , the financial constitution and budget reform , Germany's ability to act in Europe, civil rights , the right to vote and the electoral system, democracy and group interests.

Convention Circle

The initiators were Hans-Olaf Henkel and Roland Berger . After joining the Alternative für Deutschland in December 2013, Henkel resigned all functions in the Convention for Germany with immediate effect.

Members included:

Sponsoring association

Rupert Scholz has been chairman of the sponsoring association since 2009 . As chairman of the board of trustees, Manfred Schneider is also a member of the board of the sponsoring association. Oswald Metzger , who previously worked on a voluntary basis in the convent group , has been the executive secretary since February 15, 2014. He was appointed 'liquidator' at the regular general meeting on June 22, 2017, which includes all the steps necessary to dissolve the association.

Supporting institutions and people

Financiers

The association was financed by companies, foundations and private individuals. Most recently, the donors were the Heinz Nixdorf Foundation, Linde AG , Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG , Deutsche Bahn AG , usedSoft International AG , Parzeller & Co. KG and Christian Potthoff-Sewing. The annual donations amounted to between 10,000 euros and 50,000 euros. According to its own information, the Convention for Germany had an annual budget of around 200,000 euros.

In the course of its existence, among others, IBM , TUI , Lanxess , Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of America belonged to the board of trustees of the convention.

Board of Trustees

  • Heinz Nixdorf Foundation, represented by Martin Nixdorf, chairman of the board
  • Linde AG, represented by Wolfgang Büchele, Chairman of the Board of Management
  • Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG, represented by Manfred Kurz, head of the Würth representative offices in Berlin and Brussels
  • Deutsche Bahn AG, represented by Rüdiger Grube, chairman of the board
  • Parzeller & Co. KG, represented by Michael Schmitt, publisher of the Fuldaer Zeitung and managing partner
  • usedSoft International AG, represented by Peter Schneider, managing director
  • Roland Berger
  • Christian Potthoff-Sewing
  • Manfred Schneider, Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Former members of the Board of Trustees

  • Axel C. Heitmann (until February 2014 Chairman of the Board of Lanxess AG)
  • Michael Frenzel (TUI AG)
  • Josef Ackermann (Deutsche Bank AG)
  • Jürgen Fitschen (Deutsche Bank AG)

criticism

Critics described the convention as "another club of conservative-liberal system changers" and assigned it to similar organizations such as the Citizens' Convention or the Initiative New Social Market Economy , whose aim is to enforce "radical market positions" and to make "social de-solidarization" popular. The organization Lobbycontrol wrote in a study about the Convention: "Behind the veil of neutrality, the goals are a" lean "competitive state and better opportunities to implement unpopular reforms". The Aachener Zeitung, on the other hand, described the convention in its December 6, 2006 edition as an "honorary and non-partisan think tank for greater reform capability".

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Goals. In: “Convention for Germany. Reform of reform capacity ”(self-presentation / official website of the Convention) according to the“ Internet Archive WayBackMachine ”. Convention for Germany V., archived from the original on December 30, 2008 ; Retrieved on October 23, 2010 (signed by the chairmen of the convention at the time: Roman Herzog and Hans-Olaf Henkel): “The [...] convention for Germany has set itself the goal of making proposals to improve our country's ability to reform . The Convention is not concerned with reforms in individual areas such as education, social security systems or the labor market. He is concerned with a fundamental "reform of the reform ability", if you will, with "the mother of all reforms", so that Germany becomes more dynamic and thus more competitive again. "
  2. ↑ https://www.konvent-fuer-deutschland.de/deu/der_verein/vorstand/
  3. ^ Board of Trustees of the Convention for Germany. Retrieved January 1, 2019 .
  4. ^ [1] : Critique of Neoliberalism: Christoph Butterwegge , Bettina Lösch, Ralf Ptak , VS-Verlag Springer Fachmedien ISBN 978-3-531-15809-9
  5. ↑ Markus Grill: Revolution from Above (PDF; 1.8 MB), in: stern , December 17, 2003
  6. ↑ Convention for Germany - Pioneer of Unpopular Reforms . In: LobbyControl . ( lobbycontrol.de [accessed December 21, 2016]).