The rise of the Pirate Party stunned the established parties last September after it was swept for the first time into Berlin’s state government. And the euro crisis and the German-led insistence on radical savings and public sector cutbacks in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain in return for substantial financial assistance have changed attitudes toward power, money and patronage.

There is a backlash against the big salaries paid to company directors and the bonuses to bankers. The public has little patience for the slightest suspicion that politicians abuse their office. Nongovernmental organizations are also using the Wulff affair as an opportunity to weaken or even end the decades-long close ties between politicians, companies and the news media.

“More transparency would definitely strengthen democracy but also improve the standing and the reputation of parliamentarians,” said Edda Müller, chairwoman of the German chapter of Transparency International.

“I have the impression that something positive will come out of the Wulff scandal,” she added.

It is already beginning.

German companies, including Daimler, Audi and BMW, are reconsidering their sponsorship this year of the national president’s glamorous summer party, where businesspeople, politicians, lobbyists and journalists vie for attention. The problem with these and other sponsored political events, down to the local councils, is that the public has no idea how much companies have paid for the entertainment. That’s because party sponsorship does not have to be publicly disclosed, unlike financial support for political parties where any sum of €10,000, or $13,000, or more must be reported.

“There really needs to be a government regulation whereby party sponsoring should be publicly declared,” Ms. Müller said. “Somehow, the government is very hesitant about dealing with this issue. We need clear, open transparency.”

The shift in the political culture continues.

Deutsche Bahn, the state-owned railroad company, announced last week that it would abolish the special 50 percent discount for journalists who bought an annual second-class rail card. Other companies are cutting back offers for free hotel accommodation, trips abroad to exotic destinations and expensive Christmas gifts to journalists and lobbyists, all because of the Wulff affair.