Reiche Lobby Meetings Spark €4k FOI Fee Controversy in Germany

On July 1, 2025, CDU politician and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katherina Reiche met with former colleagues from the

, where she had been CEO until 2019.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Katherina_Reiche_2025-05-15_%28cropped%29.jpg/500px-Katherina_Reiche_2025-05-15_%28cropped%29.jpg

A day before, the VKU and six other lobbying groups had sent a letter to Reiche’s ministry, asking that the planned electricity tax reduction not be limited to certain industries. They argued that trade, services, crafts, and private households should also benefit, and that the federal government must “take action now.” The ministry did not disclose the content of the meeting. It remains unclear whether the discussion focused on electricity taxes or other lobbying demands.

stated that the meeting occurred in a “confidential framework,” with no further details provided.
Reiche held multiple lobby meetings in that period. Between the mid of June and mid of July, the ministry listed seven other contacts with energy companies and organizations, including Bill Gates, and the CEOs of Siemens Energy and Uniper. Again, the ministry gave no specifics about the discussions.

Journalists have requested documents on these eight meetings under Germany’s Freedom of Information Act (IFG), the ministry claimed that the request could incur fees up to €4k, calculating each meeting as a separate request. Normally, small IFG requests are free; fees are only allowed for extensive work, up to €500.

Die Aufspaltung eines einheitlichen Informationsbegehrens in eine Vielzahl von Einzelanträgen ist mit dem [im Informationsfreiheitsgesetz] angelegten Verbot einer abschreckend wirkenden Gebührenerhebung unvereinbar.

(BVerwG, Urteil vom 20.10.2016 – 7 C 6.15)

However, the Federal Administrative Court ruled in 2016 that splitting a single information request into multiple requests to impose “deterrent fees” is #illegal. Such high fees could prevent citizens from holding the government accountable.
This is part of a pattern: German ministries sometimes try to block access to documents with high fees. In previous cases, requests initially faced thousands in fees but were reduced or canceled after challenge.

Interestingly, the same ministry charged much less for lobby documents from Reiche’s predecessor, Robert Habeck (Greens). For five lobby actors over three years, only one fee totaling of €500 was requested, showing inconsistency in how fees are applied.

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