After the attack in Magdeburg, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) demands a thorough investigation of possible security loopholes and more competencies for security authorities.
“This heinous act won’t let me go” the Chancellor said to the news portal T-Online. He himself had spoken to people on the spot in the morning after the attack, and the suffering was “palpable to feel”. “Among the necessary consequences is that we investigate whether we could have prevented this terrible act. Every stone must be turned over” Scholz said.
The security authorities are already working intensively to clarify what hints there were in the prelude to the alleged perpetrator. “Obviously, there were hints about the man over the years” the Chancellor said. And further: “My expectation is clear, now it must be very carefully checked whether there were omissions at the authorities in Saxony-Anhalt or at the federal level. There can be no false restraint.”
The Chancellor also demands more competencies for the security authorities and mentions the Union in this context. After the knife attacks in Mannheim and Solingen, the Federal Government had brought corresponding laws to the Bundestag as part of the security package. For the approval in the Bundesrat, the votes of CDU and CSU are needed, “so we are talking to all the parties involved” Scholz said.