Friday 17th December 2021
Federal Council approves regulation
New Year’s fireworks may not be sold
At its last meeting of the year, the Federal Council not only agreed on a ban on the sale of New Year’s fireworks. Telecommunications providers do not have to help security authorities with spying; the deadlines for several subsidies and aid funds are being extended. The resolutions at a glance:
No sale of New Year’s fireworks
Citizens in Germany cannot buy New Year’s Eve fireworks this year either. The Federal Council has approved the pandemic-related ban on the sale of firecrackers for New Year’s Eve passed by the federal government. Such a regulation already existed last year. The aim of the restriction is to avoid accidents due to improper use of the fireworks and thus to conserve hospital capacities, said the regional chamber. The background to this is the current exposure of the clinics to corona patients. The regulation implements a resolution of the Prime Minister’s Conference of December 2nd.
The ordinance only regulates the ban on sales, it does not include the lighting of fireworks. However, states and municipalities regulate this independently for certain areas – for example Alexanderplatz in Berlin.
No obligation to help with surveillance
For the time being, telecommunications providers are not obliged to help the security authorities install surveillance software unnoticed. A corresponding regulation, which provides for such an obligation to cooperate, did not find the necessary majority. Baden-Württemberg’s Interior Minister Thomas Strobl had emphasized before the vote in the Federal Council, in order to keep an eye on potential terrorists, that this assistance in monitoring encrypted communication was absolutely necessary, because “the enemies of our democracy are arming themselves, they are networking,” said the CDU -Politician.
Last June, the Federal Council passed an amendment to the law that regulates the work of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In particularly serious cases, it allows the domestic secret service to carry out what is known as source telecommunications monitoring. That means: Communication via WhatsApp and other encrypted messenger services has since been allowed to read along with the Office for the Protection of the Constitution – if a corresponding order is issued in individual cases. This form of monitoring is also possible without the obligation to cooperate, which has now been canceled by the Federal Council, but it is more difficult and involves more effort.
“The failure shows that the current legal basis, which would have specified the regulation, does not have adequate acceptance,” said Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann. One of the objectives of the coalition agreement is “that we increase the legal requirements for the protection of digital privacy and make them strict”. In addition, it should be examined “whether such an intrusive investigative instrument belongs in the hands of the intelligence services,” said the FDP politician.
Corona aid for companies extended and reduced
The Economic Stabilization Fund (WSF) set up during the Corona crisis will continue to run until the middle of next year. The Bundesrat approved the law passed by the Bundestag the day before. It can now be signed by the Federal President and come into force at the turn of the year. The fund is intended to provide targeted support to companies “whose continued existence would have a significant impact on the economy, technological sovereignty, security of supply, critical infrastructures or the labor market,” as the regulation says.
Affected companies can thus receive guarantees from the federal government to secure loans. The fund can also be used to finance direct recapitalization of companies. The WSF has already supported a number of companies during the Corona crisis. The best-known cases are Lufthansa and the tour operator TUI. So far, the measures were limited to December 31, 2021. Now they are to be extended until June 30, 2022. However, the scope will be reduced: According to the draft for the amendment to the law, the guarantee is to be reduced from 400 to 100 billion euros and the credit authorization from 100 to 50 billion euros.
New deadline for funding full-time care
The federal states and municipalities are given an additional year to call up funds for expanding all-day care in primary schools. The Federal Council approved a corresponding law of the traffic light coalition. The 750 million euro program was originally due to expire at the end of the year. Due to the corona pandemic, the flood disaster in July, delays in building material deliveries and a lack of craftsmen, it is now being extended until the end of 2022. Finance Minister Christian Lindner emphasized that investments in all-day care are future investments. “We are thereby improving the educational opportunities of children, the compatibility of family and work and the employment opportunities of parents,” said the FDP politician.
The federal states themselves had requested the extension through the Bundesrat. The funding program is the first building block for the planned legal entitlement to a full-day place for primary school children, which is to be introduced in stages from 2026. The 750 million program enables planning, new construction and renovation as well as expansion, modernization and refurbishment of all-day facilities. Equipment such as kitchen equipment, furniture as well as sports and play equipment can also be procured with it. The federal government has a 70 percent share in the total investment. Including the country’s share of 30 percent, more than a billion euros are available.
Commitment to European agricultural policy
The Federal Council has approved the ordinances on the Common European Agricultural Policy (CAP) – albeit with restrictions. The regional chamber approved two ordinances to implement the CAP from 2023 and passed its demands on to the new federal government in an accompanying resolution. The CAP reform aims to make agriculture in Europe more environmentally friendly and fairer. The ordinances to be voted on lay down binding environmental regulations and requirements that must be complied with in order to receive payments from the CAP. In addition, the ecological regulations with which farmers can voluntarily implement additional measures for environmental and climate protection are defined in more detail. However, the reforms do not go far enough for the Greens and environmental groups.
The common agricultural policy is the second largest item in the EU budget with 387 billion euros by 2027. Germany is entitled to around 42 billion euros of this. After tough negotiations, the European Parliament and the member states agreed on the reform at the end of June. After the EU Parliament has given its approval, all member states still have to give the formal green light. Time is of the essence: the member states actually have to explain to the EU Commission by the end of this year how they intend to use agricultural funds to achieve the EU’s nature and climate protection goals.
Commemoration of the “Auschwitz Decree”
The Federal Council thought about the deportation of Sinti and Roma by the National Socialists 79 years ago. Federal Council President Bodo Ramelow recalled the so-called “Auschwitz Decree” of December 16, 1942. This was the “last stage in the persecution of Sinti and Roma” – namely the order to deport and murder fellow citizens, neighbors. The German Sinti and Roma had largely been left in the lurch, said the left-wing politician. “Just like the Jews were abandoned.” Even the churches did not intervene at that time “although they were members of their own Catholic Church”.
Ramelow pointed out that the persecution did not end after the liberation in 1945. “Instead, the stigmatization and racist criminalization of the Sinti and Roma continued in the Federal Republic of Germany.” They had long been denied victim status and redress “on the grounds that they were persecuted for purely crime-prevention reasons”. In recent German history – in the NSU investigations – there was an “antiziganistic reflex”, said the Thuringian Prime Minister. The DNA trace, which could be found everywhere, was interpreted by the police as an indication of “traveling people”. But later it turned out that the gene trace came from an employee of a packaging company for cotton swabs. The sticks were used to smear the DNA samples.
Ramelow also pointed out that the Sinti and Roma were only recognized as victims of National Socialism in 1982. But still “the stereotypes and caricature images of antiziganism continue to permeate German society”. It “apparently never takes much for Sinti and Roma – as with the NSU murders – to come under suspicion”. And right-wing terrorists created new victims like in Hanau, said Ramelow. “We have to be aware that antigypsyism – just like anti-Semitism – is a specific form of hatred.”