The Green Party’s parliamentary spokesperson for legal affairs, Helge Limburg, is sharply criticizing proposals by state interior ministers to significantly tighten security measures at German football stadiums. He argues the initiatives are politically motivated and disregard declining rates of violence surrounding matches.
“The data demonstrably shows a decrease in violence associated with football games” Limburg told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). “Despite this, interior ministers are rushing to propose increasingly stringent measures”. He urged the Interior Ministers’ Conference to “de-escalate verbally” and condemn the ongoing practice of broadly denigrating football fans.
A position paper, endorsed by Green Party parliamentary representatives Konstantin von Notz, Tina Winklmann, Marcel Emmerich, Ophelia Nick and Green Party MEP Rasmus Andresen, further details the party’s concerns. The paper emphasizes that millions of fans peacefully and legally attend matches weekly and generally perceive the safety in and around stadiums as “good to very good”. It asserts that there is no legitimate basis for political maneuvering necessitating these escalating security measures and instead calls for continued dialogue, strengthening of the diverse fan culture and collaboration to ensure positive and vibrant stadium experiences for everyone.
The paper specifically addresses the tendency to conflate ultra groups – often wrongly associated with violent hooligans – with broader supporter bases. It highlights that many of these groups actively advocate against sexism, racism, antisemitism, homophobia and all forms of group-based hatred and argues that this positive contribution should be nurtured, not suppressed by inaccurate generalization and purely repressive actions.
Proposals drawing particular opposition include the planned implementation of personalized tickets, which would severely restrict the ability to share tickets amongst friends and family. The Greens also reject the deployment of AI-powered video surveillance in and around stadiums, as well as the practice of issuing stadium bans during ongoing investigations, deeming such actions “difficult to reconcile with principles of the rule of law.
Concluding the paper, the signatories call upon state interior ministers to abandon the currently proposed measures. They stress the need for a security policy grounded in respect for fundamental rights, objective data and empirical evidence, rather than ignoring existing trends and needlessly deepening existing divisions.