Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder (CSU) speaks out in response to the Magdeburg attack, calling for a massive technical and personnel upgrade of the security authorities as part of a new “Zeitenwende” in the fight against crime. It is central for the Union to make a new security package in a new government, Söder told the “Bild am Sonntag”. The politics must finally wake up after Magdeburg.
While there is never a hundred percent security “with such sick minds that try to kill people and cause harm and attacks” the right consequences must now be drawn. Söder’s appeal: “We must finally wake up. We live in a different time. We need a Zeitenwende for internal security too.” Without the US intelligence agencies, one would be blind anyway. “But we also keep our eyes shut all the time. We do not use the technical possibilities we have to make the country safer.”
Söder announced that the debate on necessary measures would be the focus of the Bundestag election campaign: “The security concept of the Union bears the handwriting of the CSU. And we are very grateful to Friedrich Merz of the CDU for leading a new way. Right and security, protection of the inviolability of citizens is the prerequisite for freedom. And that is the central theme in the election campaign.”
Söder named the storage of IP addresses as essential to restrict crime and terrorism. The storage of IP addresses is decisive to find perpetrators in the end, not only of terrorism but also of child pornography, for example. Additionally, Söder said: “The biometric matching with the existing cameras we have in Germany, at train stations, in public areas, must finally be possible with AI to be able to quickly search for and know who is moving where.” The Federal Police must also be massively strengthened to develop a new security at train stations in particular.
All of this is “technically possible” and “legally allowed” but is being hindered by the resistance of the Greens and especially the FDP, according to Söder. The proposals of Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) for changes to the security architecture do not go far enough. These would see to it that the President of the BKA himself must make the decision on whether to continue an investigation or not in certain cases.
“So one binds the investigators who work daily, the hands.” But a “new spirit in the justice system with stronger and harsher laws” is also needed, said Söder. “Not only serious crimes should lead to recidivism, but also simple crimes. Whoever breaks the law and justice here has no future in Germany in the long run.