Shortly before the summer recess of the German parliament, lawmakers approved a series of reforms. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said optimistically, “These reforms are meant to get Germany back on track.”
At the bottom of the 34-point list of reforms is something that has begun to cause major controversy: the ruling coalition of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) wants to make significant changes to it. Freedom of Information Act (IFG)Which is effective from 2006. Critics say, there is a plan to eliminate it completely.
The IFG gives every person the right to access official information held by federal agencies. It is this law that many organizations cite, including environmental groups, consumer protection organizations, and, not least, journalists, demanding that government agencies provide them with data and critical materials quickly and free of charge.
Exceptions apply only to security-related information, such as information held by intelligence agencies, which is, to a large extent, subject to special protection.
IFG is important for journalists and NGOs
However, in the opinion of the CDU and CSU, all government information should be treated with exceptional confidentiality in the era of global cyber warfare and hacker attacks. The government has long intended to make significant amendments to the rules.
Now, the 34-point reform paper says there is a special need to protect government data at a time of “highly complex threats, both domestic and foreign”.
According to the government’s plan, this could effectively mean that only “natural persons” – not associations or organizations – would have the right to submit requests to government agencies. Currently, for example, requests submitted to federal ministries are answered either free of charge or for a small fee; Now, the fees may increase significantly. And in future the names of employees of government agencies and ministries may be modified to protect them “from hostility and threats.”
rights of foreign citizens
What is likely to be even more controversial: the government wants to look at the legality, under existing law, of limiting these rights to “German nationals and EU citizens resident in Germany” – that is, to EU citizens. In addition, information on topics such as critical infrastructure, counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism should be handled with special care moving forward.
As a member of the parliamentary oversight panel that oversees intelligence services, opposition Green Party lawmaker Constantin von Notz is very familiar with the handling of sensitive information. Yet he has said of the new plans: “Under the guise of adapting to new security threats, they are fundamentally undermining the legal foundation of government transparency.” The coalition had promised to modernize the state, he said, but this is “exactly the opposite – that is, a huge step back from hard-won civil rights.”
An open letter from 110 organizations
but in open letters110 civil society organizations – including Greenpeace, Transparency International and Amnesty International – have urged the government: “Stop these plans! Protect the Freedom of Information Act (IFG) and freedom of information in its current form.” The letter goes on to say: “Anyone who limits the right of access to information in individual cases, subjects it to mandatory justification, excludes organizations and raises fees to excessive levels – without warning – is effectively ending freedom of information.”
“If the federal government wanted to reduce the right to information now, it would hinder oversight and public participation and reduce public acceptance with respect to infrastructure, land use, species conservation and climate protection. This does not build trust; it creates new distrust,” Martin Kaiser, climate expert at the environmental group Greenpeace, told DW.
The criticism is so intense that even members of the ruling coalition in the Bundestag now want to reconsider the planned reform. Experts from the Social Democratic Party’s Bundestag committees on the interior, digital affairs and consumer protection issued a joint statement declaring: “Any curtailment of the existing rights of citizens, the press and civil society to access information must not be allowed to go ahead.” It continues: “The SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag will not approve of any move to eliminate the current level of transparency provided for by the Freedom of Information Act.”
Nearly 100,000 information requests in seven years
According to official data, the existing Right to Information Act has been widely exercised. As reported by the Bundestag, a total of approximately 105,000 requests were submitted to the German authorities between 2015 and 2022. Only a fraction of those cases – about 16,200 – had the information partially withheld, while in about 9,000 cases it was denied entirely. In other words, the information was disclosed in response to most requests. Critics fear that this trend may reverse in the future.
This article has been translated from German.