To counter the threat that cyber‑attacks pose to Parliament, Bundestag President Julia Klöckner (CDU) announced extensive renovations of the Reichstag. According to her, roughly 3,800 kilometres of copper cable, 300 kilometres of fibre‑optic cable, 300 data distributors and hundreds of servers will need to be replaced. Klöckner described the overhaul as a major undertaking that will involve significant construction work over the coming years.
For context, she compared the length of the copper cables to the entire length of Germany’s borders, noting that they would circle the country if laid in a line. She hopes the digital strategy will be approved swiftly and that the work can commence before summer.
Klöckner dubbed the initiative the “3‑S strategy”:
” “Security” – strengthening IT security and building a resilient environment against cyber‑attacks and system failures.
” “Sovereignty” – reducing unilateral dependence on external vendors and infrastructure.
” “Service orientation” – providing users with the freedom to choose the systems they prefer, while maintaining Parliament’s control over data and its usage. To that end, digital access will be granted more restrictively in the future.
She also pressed for progress on the Parliament Police Act, which has been under discussion for years. Klöckner said she is certain that the parliamentary factions will agree on the legislation this year; otherwise it would be inexplicable that Parliament continues to host around two million visitors annually. “We need to know whether any visitors are classified as threats or have already behaved in a constitution‑endangering manner. For such a data exchange with intelligence services a legal foundation is essential” she asserted.