Seehofer before committee meeting: Disaster control should remain with the federal states

Even after the storm disaster, Federal Interior Minister Seehofer believes that disaster control should remain with the federal states. However, the federal government will assume a stronger coordinating role in the future.

According to Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, the federal government should not take responsibility for disaster control. The decisions necessary in the event of a disaster would have to continue to be made on site, intervening in the competencies of states and municipalities would be the wrong way, said the CSU politician before a special meeting of the Interior Committee.

According to the minister, the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) should only take on a stronger coordinating role. “The BBK will be a competence center in the future,” the federal and state conference of interior ministers agreed on before the devastating floods in western Germany.

Managing acute disaster situations has so far been the responsibility of the federal states and municipalities. For its part, the federal government has the task of protecting the population in the event of a defense. Some experts consider this division to be out of date.

There was apparently resistance to cell broadcast in the federal government

Before the severe weather disaster in western Germany, there was apparently resistance in the federal government to local warnings from the cell broadcast service. “Not everyone has always been enthusiastic about the idea in recent months,” said Seehofer. “But I have decided that we will do it and do it, there is absolutely no reasonable argument against it.”

The President of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), Armin Schuster, had already commissioned a feasibility study in spring to warn by cell broadcasting. According to reports, the head of the authority, which is subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior, also wanted to convince other departments – including the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Seehofer was confident that cell broadcast could be introduced quickly. “I think we can do that this year,” said the interior minister. He knows about the concerns, about the network operator. “If you want, you can move mountains – just not the responsibilities of the countries,” added the CSU politician.

With cell broadcasting, a message is sent to cell phone users, similar to an SMS – to all recipients who are currently in the radio cell in question. Data protectionists consider this technology, which is already used in many other countries, to be relatively harmless.

Changes in disaster control required

Persistent heavy rain led to unprecedented flooding in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia on July 14th. At least 179 people died. After the storm, there were allegations that people in the affected areas were not warned quickly enough. Seehofer in particular was heavily criticized.

The chairwoman of the Bundestag interior committee, Andrea Lindholz (CSU), had therefore called for more federal influence on the deployment planning and management. “I think we have to change something in the management structures,” said Lindholz in the Morning magazine from ARD and ZDF. It is not about the federal government making decisions on individual fire brigade operations “on site”. But it is about the operational management and the overall coordination in advance. “We need a federal-state leadership group for such large-scale operations,” said Lindholz.

The Greens called for changes in civil protection and disaster relief. The domestic political spokeswoman for the Greens parliamentary group, Irene Mihalic, had previously called for responsibility at the federal level for transnational or special situations. “We know such a model in the police from the Federal Criminal Police Office, which also takes on a coordinating role in special situations,” said Mihalic.