Last week the Chancellor made another attempt. It would be beneficial to rekindle the “spirit for the entire government,” said Olaf Scholz at a meeting of the Seeheimer Circle, the conservative wing of the Social Democrats. How difficult will that be? Scholz only has to take a look from the Chancellery over to the Ministry of the Interior on the other side of the Spree. Over there, Nancy Faeser (SPD) has been working on all sorts of blockages in the coalition for almost two years now.
It has been 21 months since Faeser suggested that all IP addresses on the Internet be stored briefly in order to better prosecute serious crimes on the Internet. Anyone who purchases child pornography, for example, can far too often get away with the protection of the anonymity of the Internet. Security authorities welcomed the move, and the interior ministers of the federal states supported it across party lines. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) alone stood in the way.
Movement? Hardly noticeable in many projects
Anyone who saves data on the Internet for no reason and without evidence of a specific crime is violating European law. Buschmann suggested another method, the “Quick Freeze”, which should allow phone data of suspects to be “frozen”, i.e. saved, for a certain period of time by providers if there is an initial suspicion of serious crimes. Faeser considers this to be insufficient. Since then, nothing has progressed. People talk, they say.
As a result, the reform of tenancy law has also become bogged down. In order to get Faeser to make concessions in the dispute over data storage and to put pressure on the SPD, Buschmann has been holding back a draft on tenant protection for almost two years. It was agreed to limit rent increases after modernization more than before and also to strengthen the right of first refusal of municipalities in the event of a housing shortage. The matter is a core social democratic concern, actually. However, no movement can be seen.
The situation with gun law has also been completely deadlocked for months. Faeser wants to amend it and her ministry presented a draft for it a year ago. The initiative is intended to help extremists disarm more easily and also inform authorities about psychological problems among gun owners. Faeser also wants to completely ban semi-automatic weapons similar to military weapons, which are often used for atrocities, from private ownership. But here too the FDP is on the brakes, especially in front of party leader Christian Lindner, a friend of hunting and shooting clubs. He thinks the current law is strong enough. It just has to be enforced.
Meanwhile, Faeser is restructuring her ministry
The next construction site: the Democracy Promotion Act. More than a year ago, the cabinet decided to better support associations in Germany that work against extremism and for democratic values, including against Islamism and anti-Semitism. In addition to Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens), Interior Minister Faeser is responsible for the law.
Her predecessor Horst Seehofer (CSU) had already tried to put the association’s civil society work on a more reliable financial basis, but in vain. He failed because of his own faction in the Bundestag. And the Faeser-Paus duo is also not making any progress after another attempt. Although the entire cabinet approved the draft in 2022, the FDP moved away from it in the Bundestag. The matter has been stuck in parliament ever since – while projects against radicalization fear for their future.
Meanwhile, Faeser is pushing ahead with the restructuring of his own ministry. On Friday she wrote a letter to the approximately 2,000 employees and announced important personnel details. The SPD politician is replacing four department heads. The heads of the cybersecurity and digital departments Andreas Könen and Pia Karger are retiring. In return, confidants from the SPD move up or get more important positions in the ministry. Faeser justifies the step by saying that she wants to optimally position the ministry for the “second half of the legislative period.”