Luxury residence with tennis court and swimming pool: criticism of the Federal Foreign Office

The Federal Foreign Office treats itself to a new “park-like” residence in Brussels for 8 million euros. The Federal Audit Office condemns this and other expenditure.

The new property in Brussels has an area of 15,000 square meters and is reminiscent of a park. There is also a luxurious building with a swimming pool inside and a tennis court. The Federal Foreign Office will spend 8 million euros on the new residence in Brussels. The Federal Audit Office criticizes the acquisition of the “park-like property with a lavish building”. The criticism is based on the fact that well-equipped residences already exist for all the heads of the three German missions abroad in Brussels.

The Bundesrechnungshof reports that the Federal Foreign Office has neither proven the need for the purchase nor taken into account requirements for economic efficiency and economy. Due to the fact that the new property has an area of 15,000 square meters, which is up to six times larger than the previously used properties, it is also “more energy-intensive and more expensive to maintain”.

“The Federal Foreign Office has been disregarding the legal requirements for years”

According to the Federal Audit Office, there is no specific case. In recent years, “comparable discoveries” have been made all over the world. On several occasions, the Federal Foreign Office has made decisions to purchase or rent properties abroad without there being a corresponding need. No investigation has been carried out into the economic viability of other situations.

• For example, there were “two unused properties for the chancery of the embassy” at a foreign mission in Europe, while “the ongoing chancery operations were conducted in additional rented premises”.
• According to the Federal Audit Office, “the Federal Foreign Office purchased a plot of land in a foreign mission in the Middle East for almost 5 million euros in order to build a German school abroad”. However, the plot of land may not now be built on because it is designated as garden land.
• One of the many missions abroad in Africa also maintains “two residences. One of them is almost uninhabited”.

“For years, the Federal Foreign Office has disregarded the legal requirements for efficiency and economy when acquiring and maintaining its properties abroad,” said the auditors. Although the Federal Audit Office has provided evidence of breaches of the legal requirements for efficiency and economy, the Federal Foreign Office has continued to make inefficient decisions.

Unnecessarily large plots and buildings are not an appropriate standard

According to the Federal Audit Office, the Federal Foreign Office has a total of 864 properties abroad that are used as residences and chancelleries. According to the information, the residences consist of “a public and a private aspect”. It is planned that the official section of the residence will be used for administrative tasks such as running the embassy or the permanent representation. The Federal Foreign Office will allocate the private aspect to the head as an official residence.

In 2022, the Federal Foreign Office provided around 150 million euros for the operation, maintenance and furnishing of the properties abroad. According to the controller, a further 66 million euros were spent on construction measures. In addition, many of the buildings are in need of refurbishment. The Federal Foreign Office has stated that the refurbishment requirements of its properties abroad will amount to around 2.5 billion euros in 2022.

The Bundesrechnungshof advises the Federal Foreign Office to implement effective internal control mechanisms in order to identify and prevent inefficient behavior at an early stage. Furthermore, the Bundesrechnungshof emphasizes that adequate facilities are required to accommodate and perform the tasks of the Federal Foreign Office’s staff. It is not necessary to have unnecessarily large plots of land and buildings, nor is it necessary to have extensive facilities.

Foreign Office wants to keep tennis court and swimming pool for the time being

The Bundesrechnungshof also calls on the Federal Foreign Office to swiftly identify its unnecessary assets abroad and to dispose of them without loss. This applies in particular to the property in Brussels, which was acquired in contravention of budgetary law. In response, the Federal Foreign Office announced that it would “review its procedural principles and control mechanisms for real estate decisions” in an organizational review. In addition, it is continually finding properties abroad that are no longer needed. If they are essential, attempts are made to sell them.

The luxury property in Brussels, which was acquired in October 2021 under the leadership of former Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, will not be given back for the time being, even under Annalena Baerbock. The need for a larger residence was identified and explained. Two of the previous residences in Brussels are in need of renovation, while the new residence was the only property to meet the demand. Initially, it will serve as a temporary home while both existing residences are being renovated. The plan is to decide later, based on a residence strategy that has yet to be developed, which property in Brussels will be permanently abandoned.

You can find the detailed report of the Federal Audit Office in the original and in full length here.