http://dx.doi.org/10.59704/19a43f9773c41828 https://verfassungsblog.de/the-unfinished-repair/ The Unfinished Repair - Germany’s Dualism and the Implementation of the New EU Anti-Corruption Directive Pohlreich, Erol Kotsalis, Philippos-Georgios Tale Ismaili, Nastaran eng 2026-07-21 electronic resource text/html ddc:342 Deutschland Directive (EU) 2026/1021 EU Maskenaffäre criminal liability dualism influence offence section 108e StGB section 108f StGB Deutschland EU Verfassungsblog Verfassungsblog--2366-7044 CC BY-SA 4.0 The new Directive (EU) 2026/1021, adopted on 29 April 2026, is the most ambitious expression to date of the EU’s anti-corruption architecture. It declares that elected representatives stand under the same anti-corruption standard as civil servants. In substance, that promise fails twice. First, the Directive enables, but does not require, this change. Secondly, the adopted harmonised definition of the “influence offence” fails to capture wrongdoing such as Germany’s mask-contract scandal (“Maskenaffäre”) – monetising mandate-derived political access outside parliamentary proceedings.