Germany has lost over 36 million euros to government mismanagement and failed projects, according to the Federal Union of Taxpayers (BdSt). The ‘black book’ compiled by the union lists 119 examples of what they perceive to be squandering and incompetence.

The town of Nünchritz in south-east Germany spent 13,000 euros on building a tower designed to attract swallows. The birds were migrating away from the region due to increasing levels of pollution. Not a single bird came back and the feather-targeted publicity stunt was a complete failure.

Not birds, but people were the target audience of Finsterbergen, a town in the east of the country. The local government stumped up 153,000 euros to build a ‘climate pavilion’ and another 161,000 was spent on a ‘centre of climate therapy’. These facilities were intended for people suffering from respiratory diseases. However, the authors of the projects did not take into account that there are no health centres in Finsterbergen. So, tourists in the region remain scarce.

Similarly, 6.5 million euros of taxpayers' money was used to build a railway leading to Rozitz, an abandoned industrial zone. In theory, it was meant to make the setting more attractive for foreign investors. They weren't eager to come. In fact, to date, no one has come.

Failed projects are not only a rural prerogative. Metropolitan Hamburg lost 4.5 million euros on developing an electronic ballot system for its municipal elections. But since Green Party activists began vocal protests against the system shortly after the project began, it was made completely superfluous. The money was spent, nonetheless.

The BdSt president, Karl Heinz Däke, has demanded that the federal government “immediately stop the waste of public money” and make the “unfortunate managers” accountable in the face of criminal law.

He also pointed out that the exact figures of such squandering were of no importance to ordinary people, but the very principle of them should be perceived as a “slap in the face” for taxpayers. Their money, according to the union, could have been saved through detailed market analysis, which is provided by the Ministry of Finance for free.

Critics have already accused Däke of frivolity and populism. According to them, the lack of accurate figures in the BdSt ‘black book’ is a sign of the unprofessionalism of those who have compiled it. And, anyway, how much did it cost to compile the book?