There is growing dissatisfaction among the SPD base and the Bundestag faction about the planned restrictions on the Freedom of Information Act (IFG). The Juso chairman Philipp Türmer sharply criticized the decision of the party leadership on ZDF and warned that the SPD had once introduced the law and should not take part in its overexploitation. The parliamentary group’s digital expert, Johannes Schätzl, speaks openly about the threat of a de facto abolition of the law. He describes the compromise reached in the coalition committee as lazy.
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The party leadership around Lars Klingbeil had obviously not included the group members in advance. In an internal paper, the parliamentarians have now announced that they will refuse to follow their own leadership on this issue and will not agree to any lowering of the existing level of transparency. The FragDenStaat portal published the announcement.
The resistance within the party meets with a heated debate. What was agreed as modernization in the coalition agreement threatens, according to opponents from the opposition, media and associations, to destroy a central control instrument of investigative journalism and the democratic public. Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) emphasized to ARD the fundamental importance of the unconditional right to information for citizens and media professionals. She announced a critical review of the project. It is essential to ensure that the actions of the executive can be questioned by the public.
Advance from the Interior Department
Hubig admitted that he had not yet had a direct conversation with the responsible Federal Minister of the Interior, Alexander Dobrindt (CSU). At the same time, she defended the basic idea of an amendment by pointing out that in practice there was also abuse. For example, there are targeted queries that could play into the hands of foreign countries. This argument is based on preliminary work from the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI). According to FragDenStaat, the initiative to restrict the law is being driven primarily by officials from the local public security department. It is considered to be very conservative.
Under Dobrindt’s leadership, officials now apparently see the opportunity to roll back the transparency tool, which is unpopular in security circles. A wish list circulating in the BMI envisages excluding legal entities such as clubs, associations and non-governmental organizations from being eligible to apply in the future. This would massively undermine the current level of transparency, even though current law already provides extensive exceptions to protect internal, external and public security.
At the same time, the party leadership’s lack of detailed knowledge was evident in Klingbeil’s public appearances, in which the Vice Chancellor falsely claimed that NGOs could continue to submit applications as usual in the future.
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Mask affair and NSU reports
A look at prominent cases shows how indispensable the law was in the past for clearing up political grievances. Only through freedom of information requests did details about the Corona mask affair involving former Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) become public. The financial disaster surrounding the Munich main route under Markus Söder (CSU) as well as the controversial border controls ordered by Dobrindt only became transparent through the IFG.
The pressure on the coalition is growing. A petition against the curtailment of the law has exceeded 440,000 signatures. Over 115 organizations are calling for the project to be stopped. The Greens and the Left joined. Observers warn of parallels to developments at country level. In Berlin, the Freedom of Information Act there had actually been undermined under the guise of security interests and with the involvement of the SPD.
(cku)
