When candidates are spat on and MPs are beaten, it endangers democracy, say the interior ministers. The Federal Minister of Justice does not believe that the solution lies in criminal law.
Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann is convinced that the increasing aggression against politicians cannot be curbed with harsher punishments. “The attempt to solve the social problem of a general brutalization of political debate with criminal law alone will fail,” said the FDP politician to the German Press Agency. He is nevertheless prepared to look at proposals from the federal states regarding criminal law.
After the brutal attack on the Saxon SPD’s top candidate for the European elections, Matthias Ecke, the federal and state interior ministers met for a video conference on Tuesday. In a joint resolution, the conference asked the justice ministers to examine as soon as possible whether “the specific injustice that can be seen in the democracy-threatening circumstance of such attacks” is already sufficiently reflected in criminal law. It should also be examined whether “the deliberate spread of disinformation with the aim of influencing elections or escalating violence constitutes injustice worthy of punishment”.
Recently, attacks on politicians have increased. On Friday last week, Ecke was beaten to the point of hospitalization while posting posters in Dresden. On Tuesday, a man hit Berlin’s Economics Senator Franziska Giffey (SPD) with a bag containing a hard object, injuring her slightly. On the same day, the Green Party’s top candidate for Dresden city council, Yvonne Mosler, was jostled and threatened while hanging up election posters. In Stuttgart, two AfD members of the state parliament were verbally and physically attacked by suspected opponents of the party on Wednesday, according to police.
Should politician stalking be punished?
Saxony wants to introduce a draft law to the Bundesrat that would create a new criminal offense. Accordingly, influencing officials and elected officials through so-called political stalking should be punished. This involves threatening situations such as aggressive demonstrations in front of a mayor’s home.
The wording of the proposals from Saxony was not yet available to him, Buschmann told the dpa in an interview on the way to the G7 justice ministers’ meeting in Venice. In principle, criminal law must meet special requirements. “That means we can’t use imprecise wording that would then potentially criminalize legitimate behavior.” Freedom of assembly is also a valuable asset. Citizens are also allowed to express criticism towards a politician together. “You have to differentiate this precisely from a threatening situation that is no longer acceptable,” emphasized the Justice Minister.
But no one should act as if German criminal law had blind spots in cases like Matthias Ecke’s, said Buschmann. Such a serious crime could already be punished accordingly. “Politicians also have a right not to be insulted – and they especially have a right not to be threatened with violence.”
Buschmann criticizes terms like “traitor”
From the minister’s point of view, politicians should set an example that even tough conflicts can be resolved in a civilized manner. “Of course, it also contributes to the brutalization of the climate when politicians speak of “traitors” and systematically try to give the impression that “the old parties are all corrupt,” said the FDP politician. Such strategies, which also run on social media, are particularly perfidious if they are “controlled or encouraged by foreign divisive powers such as Russia”.
The term “old parties” is part of the standard vocabulary of the AfD, which entered the Bundestag for the first time in 2017. In addition to the shrill tones in the political debate, Buschmann sees other causes for the increasing tendency to violence. A “higher level of stress” can be observed in society. The strenuous phase of the corona pandemic contributed to this, the aftereffects of which – including economically – are still noticeable today. There is war in Europe. Conflicts in other places – such as the Middle East – also influenced coexistence in Germany. There are also economic concerns.
