Overview
- The NRW Landtag voted to set up a parliamentary inquiry on Friday, June 19, 2026, after the SPD tabled the motion and the AfD voted with it while the CDU, Greens and FDP abstained.
- The inquiry is a Parlamentarischer Untersuchungsausschuss, a formal committee that can compel testimony and documents, and the SPD has the quorum to press it forward without other parties.
- The mandate directs investigators to examine the period since 2017 and explicitly opens scrutiny of Minister-President Hendrik Wüst and Interior Minister Herbert Reul as well as Construction Minister Ina Scharrenbach.
- The immediate cause of the probe was a March Der Spiegel report that cited anonymous staff complaints of harsh, health-harming leadership; Scharrenbach has admitted mistakes and promised changes while denying bullying and is reported to have been treated for cancer for about a year.
- Critics say the nine-year review window and the rule that PUAs must end with the legislative term mean the committee may lack time to reach comprehensive findings, and parties accuse each other of using the inquiry for election advantage, raising privacy and political-risk concerns for ministry staff and CDU leaders.