Newspaper
reports say that the labor ministry deleted potentially controversial
parts of a forthcoming report on poverty and wealth in Germany. The
news casts doubt on the report's credibility.
According to
a report in the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (SZ) newspaper, the
German government has watered down passages from the fifth edition of
its Report on Poverty and Wealth. The report won't be officially
published until 2017, but a draft was leaked to the press earlier
this week.
The passages
concern assertions that wealthy people in Germany have more political
influence in Germany than poorer ones. The SZ article will only add
fuel to the fire of critics of the report, which concludes that the
number of poor people in Germany is growing.
The SZ says
that the following passage was excised from an earlier version of the
document: "Political change is significantly more likely if
it's supported by people with higher incomes."
The document
originally warned of a "crisis of political representation,"
concluding that "people with lower incomes forgo political
participation because in their experience, politicians take them into
account to a lesser extent when making their decisions."
Another
deleted passage states that "not only do people in Germany
with different incomes take part in politics to various degrees, but
there is clearly a non-level playing field, to the detriment of the
poor, in political decision-making."
Mentions of
"the influence of special interest representatives and
lobbyism" were also omitted.
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