Government affords more and more commissioners, for what actually?

By Gunnar Schupelius

The federal government created a new office on Monday. Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) hired veterinarian Ariane Désirée Kari as “animal welfare officer”. The decision shows “how important animal welfare is to the federal government,” said Özdemir. “I want to give animals a voice in federal politics,” said Ariane Désirée Kari.

However, many others in the government are already taking on this task. In the Ministry of Agriculture, 50 officials and employees are responsible for animal welfare and animal health. The Ministry also installed the so-called “Animal Welfare Commission”. There are another ten animal welfare experts gathered there.

However, the minister did not want to do without an animal welfare officer. So he is in line with the trend: in addition to Ariane Désirée Kari, the federal government is affording another 43 commissioners. They are lavishly provided with money and staff.

For example, the “Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration”, Rem Alabali-Radovan, has 67 permanent positions and an annual budget of 43.5 million euros. The “Federal Commissioner for Anti-Discrimination”, Ferda Ataman, employs 46 people. The officers are assigned to the Chancellery or the ministries.

The situation in the Berlin Senate is very similar to that in the federal government. Here, too, the representative system grows skyward.

The coalition of CDU and SPD increased the number of officers to 17. The “queer officer” Alfonso Pantisano from the federal board of the Lesbian and Gay Association (LSVD) is new. He should ensure the “queer political awakening” of the Senate.

The red-green-red coalition had previously appointed a “police commissioner” to keep an eye on the officers. Before that, there was an animal welfare officer and a victim officer, along with the many other officers that are familiar.

What are they all doing? Hard to say. Berlin’s “State Commissioner for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management” claims to be involved “in legislative processes (…), in the development of ordinances and in planning processes”. But there are also hundreds of employees in the Senate Department for the Environment and Climate Protection. And in addition a lot of authorities, such as the Berlin forests, the plant protection office, the fisheries office, etc.

The officers all work in parallel with the many civil servants in the administration. Your work is not controlled. They are a kind of subsidiary government. They receive high salaries, company cars with drivers and have many employees.