The incoming government hands over the Federal Ministry of the Interior to the Conservatives. The coalition agreement proclaims a ‘turning point’ in internal security. Stricter surveillance measures and laws are planned.
With the new coalition agreement published on Wednesday, the German Social Democrats will lose the Federal Ministry of the Interior – it will once again go to the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), as it has done this century under Hans-Peter Friedrich and Horst Seehofer. It is still unclear who will take over the post. The favourite candidate is Alexander Dobrindt, chairman of the CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag.
The area of internal security in Chapter 3 of the coalition agreement is accordingly coloured by the konservative Union parties CDU and CSU. Based on the quote from chancellor Olaf Scholz, a ‘turning point’ is proclaimed. ‘As far as the enemies of democracy are concerned, the principle of “zero tolerance” applies,’ is the threat. To this end, criminal law is to be further tightened to protect police and rescue workers as well as healthcare professionals.
In the area of digital surveillance tools, the Federal Police will in future be authorised to use state trojans to combat serious criminal offences such as “migrant smuggling”. This so-called source telecommunication surveillance involves monitoring ongoing communication programmes on a mobile phone or computer. Whether the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is authorised to continue using trojans is to be reviewed in a ‘surveillance overall assessment’ that began last year.
‘We reject measures to scan private communication and an identification obligation,’ it continues – in other words, no random monitoring of encrypted chat communication. This is a surprise – if no backdoors emerge. There will allegedly also be no obligation to use clear names on the Internet. According to the third chapter of the coalition agreement, however, data retention will now be introduced after decades of wrangling and negative court judgements – apparently as a so-called ‘quick freeze’, i.e. following a court order and not without cause for all internet users. However, radio cell queries for the subsequent location of mobile phone users are to be made ‘more comprehensive’.
The coalition is increasingly focussing on biometric surveillance for investigation and prosecution measures. A law is to allow the police to compare faces on the internet, and artificial intelligence may be used ‘for certain purposes’. In addition, facial recognition (‘remote biometric identification’) is to be introduced in public spaces – for Germany a very far-reaching step alongside video surveillance at so-called ‘crime hotspots’.
Furthermore, the newly introduced possibility of telephone interception is also to be continued for suspects of domestic burglary. The increased use of automated number plate reading systems has also been announced. The coalition is furthermore planning to introduce an inter-agency ‘early warning system’ for dangers posed by people with mental health problems. This includes a ‘risk assessment’, although it is unclear which data will be used to create this.
In the fight against organised crime (including explicitly mentioned “clan criminality”), the coalition agreement provides for a complete reversal of the burden of proof when confiscating assets of unclear origin – the regulation bears the signature of North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU). The announced amendment to the criminal law paragraph on ‘preparation of a serious act of violence endangering the state’ is similarly far-reaching and will in future also include everyday objects such as vehicles or knives as means of committing an offence. Previously, only weapons or explosives were included. This would bring the terror offence closer to a conceptual criminal law and enable more repression – even if there are hardly any concrete grounds for suspicion.
With regard to anti-Semitic offences and incitement to hatred, the coalition is planning to withdraw the right to stand for election in the event of multiple convictions for incitement to hatred as part of its efforts to ‘strengthen the resilience’ of democracy. The offence is to be tightened to better combat anti-Semitism and ‘hate and agitation’.
Finally, the coalition agreement also stipulates a significant expansion of competences for the three federal secret services. In particular, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution will be strengthened in the fight against cybercrime, espionage and sabotage. There are also plans to reorganise the exchange of data between the authorities. Including the Central Office for Information Technology in the Security Sector (ZITiS), which is also responsible for the use of state trojans, a further ‘specialised technical central office’ will be created. With its help, the secret services will also patrol a ‘cyber and information space’.
Published in German in „nd“.
Image: The expanded use of number plate scanners is still one of the more harmless announcements of the upcoming government (CC-BY 4.0 Cameramann).
