Updated: 06/30/202121:04
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OfFlorian Naumann
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Bavaria’s new police task law provides for “reliability checks” – experts warn. The CSU appeases, but also admits that defining the terms is difficult.
Munich / Würzburg – Actually, Markus Söders * government wanted to take up criticism and eliminate construction errors – but the Bavarian Police Task Act is also causing great concern in its new version. Last but not least, the occasion is a possibility, which the coalition introduced at short notice, to perform a “reliability check” for certain participants in “particularly endangered events”. It is also irritating that no external experts were heard on this point. The Landtag-FDP speaks on request of Merkur.de* of a “parliamentary foul” – and expresses “considerable” concerns about the content.
The Liberals are not alone in this: Security lawyer Markus Löffelmann warned in the Süddeutsche Zeitung lastly before formulations in the law that allow a “huge spread” in the application of the passage – and could even represent a gateway for a “social crediting” system based on the Chinese style. This initially hypothetical extreme case would mean: Only those who, in the sense of the regulatory authorities, have a clean slate are allowed to go to a football match or a concert.
In view of their opinion, the FDP warns of vague terms against a potentially dangerous “wrong path”. The CSU interior expert Manfred Ländner defends the plans in an interview Merkur.de however – “in principle” nothing changes. The core question is obviously how waterproof the law is – and whether the new rules are an important lever for more safety at major events. Or ultimately, an opportunity for later abuse.
Söder’s coalition in the criticism: “Reliability check” in the police task law causes concern – CSU appeased
This passage is a stumbling block Amendment by CSU and free voters Regarding the Police Tasks Act: “In the case of events that involve considerable security risks, the police can collect, transmit and otherwise process personal data of a person with their written or electronic consent from public and non-public bodies.” This option should apply in five cases – including, for example “To regulate the special access authorization to events and series of events that are particularly endangered” or “for the purpose of protecting people and property”.
Experts like Löffelmann fear that visitors to major events could soon be screened in this way. CSU domestic politician Ländner rejects this, however. “The term ‘special access authorization’ is intended to clearly indicate that it is not about the people who are generally invited or who have bought an entrance ticket in the usual way,” he emphasizes. Rather, it is about “service providers”, for example.
Different views on Söder’s Police Task Act: Manfred Ländner (CSU, left) and Alexander Muthmann (FDP)
© dpa / picture-alliance / Lino Mirgeler / Matthias Balk / fn
Police task law: gateway for police screening? CSU sees clear limits – but also “quite difficult definition”
Ländner is also skeptical of comparisons made by critics with the laws of other federal states – in Rhineland-Palatinate, for example, the corresponding regulation applies specifically to “security services” and people with “privileged access”, and – as in Hesse – only for events by “offices and public bodies ”.
But that misses the point of the rule, says Ländner. “The regulation is used for security on all occasions that involve special security risks and not just those organized by public bodies or authorities,” says Ländner Merkur.de. Depending on the assessment of the situation, it could be, for example, that at international football matches with the presence of state presidents “the service staff in the VIP area is checked, but not the sausage seller on the back straight”.
However, the CSU politician also conceded with regard to the “special access authorization”: “A legal definition is quite difficult given the abundance of possibilities that can arise.” However, the “privileged access” in Rhineland-Palatinate is also “relative imprecisely defined “.
CSU and Free Voters: FDP reprimands the Police Task Act – “multitude of indefinite terms in the draft”
It is precisely this fact that arouses the suspicion of the FDP. “The wording of the proposed regulation is far too vague, it would give the police far too wide a scope for assessment and – as the first reactions from science show – it can have very broad consequences in its application,” said Deputy Parliamentary Group Alexander Muthmann when asked by Merkur.de.
“Terms such as ‘particularly endangered events’ or ‘special access authorization’ are just examples of the multitude of indefinite terms in the draft,” Muthmann complained. It must be clearly regulated when tests are possible – and according to which criteria the result is obtained. But that is exactly what is missing in the draft of the CSU and Free Voters. The area of application is “much too flexible”. According to the Liberal, “the opposite is necessary”: “The terms must be so clearly defined that the scope is kept as small as necessary.”
Police task law: FDP angry about “parliamentary foul” by the Bavarian coalition
There is also resentment in the opposition about the approach to the amendment. Because after violent disputes about the Police Task Act passed in 2018 – among other things because of the possibility of long preventive detention without legal assistance, Merkur.de* reported – Markus Söders state government had set up an expert commission. As a result, there is now, among other things, a lawyer being placed on the side and an extensive waiver of the determination of “biogeographical origin” in DNA analyzes. But the reliability check of all things was added by the CSU and Free Voters without an expert hearing.
FDP politician Muthmann speaks in this matter of an “imposition” and a “parliamentary foul” – especially “in the highly sensitive area of police law”. Ländner, in turn, points out that the Bavarian data protection officer was involved. It was even a reaction to objections from the Commissioner. “Previously, security checks in the preventive area were legally justified by Article 30ff of the PAG,” he emphasized, and now there is a special passage for endangered events.
Bavaria’s new police task law: CSU on the “wrong track”? CSU defends draft – “In principle nothing changes”
In general, Ländner sees no dangers from the law – if only because of its basic design: “It is important that above all the constant checking of proportionality inherent in the PAG must of course also be observed with Article 60a,” he emphasizes. And “In principle, the introduction of the 60a does not change anything compared to the previous application.”
Muthmann, however, sees the Bavarian coalition on the wrong track. “The sensitive balance between security and freedom must not be lost sight of,” he warns: “It is a mistake to believe that more and more controls can ensure absolute security.” Last but not least, “why” needs to be clarified we need such a regulation at all ”.
The government could also be concerned about the fact that trust was already lost in the previous version of the Police Tasks Act. The fact that people without a lawyer could preventively get lost in the mills of justice had long been denied in the legislative process. And the feared week-long use of preventive detention was also practiced, like that Greens by request in April found out – 17 days of security detention according to PAG due to corona violations were reported in several cases by the Ministry of the Interior. The Greens therefore want to prevent, among other things, that after the amendment, preventive detention is possible after the commission of administrative offenses.
The Landtag will have the last word in July. The demand of the FDP with regard to the reliability check reads: “CSU and Free Voters would be well advised to withdraw the application and subject it to an open technical discussion.”fn) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
source https://pledgetimes.com/chinese-conditions-in-bavaria-soon-opposition-warns-soder-of-wrong-track-csu-defends-plans/
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