German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wants to make it possible for the police to carry out covert house raids, with the official explanation being that such raids will help combat terrorism. However, the modification of the criminal code will target not just terrorists but anyone who “attempts to destabilise the constitutional order.”
This was the same argument made when the interior ministry recently banned a right-wing magazine, and is the same argument used to harass the second strongest political party, the anti-globalist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Opponents and critics of the leftist-liberal government have every right to be fearful of the expanding powers given to the liberal Berlin elite which intends to target its political foes.
According to German media reports, the interior ministry wants to expand the Federal Criminal Police Office’s (BKA) powers so the force plays a central role in the fight against international terrorism. Although the measures are to be used as a last resort and only to combat terrorism, the officers would be formally granted the “authority to covertly enter homes as an accompanying measure for online searches and telecommunications surveillance.”
It is not known whether the interior ministry is responding to a specific terrorist threat, but the danger posed by Islamist extremism in Western Europe has increased significantly in recent months, with Austria foiling an attack against a Taylor Swift concert last week, and France announcing that it faces a “very high” terror risk ahead of the feast of the Assumption on August 15th.
Raiding homes is currently only allowed via court orders, and with the knowledge of the property owners. Covert house raids would seriously infringe upon the fundamental right to the inviolability of the home which is enshrined in the constitution.
Nevertheless, Konstantin von Notz of the Green party, which is part of the governing coalition, spoke of “serious times” and the need for the BKA to gain “modern investigative powers and tools.”
Although combating terrorism is the stated intention of the interior ministry, “lone perpetrators who seriously attempt to destabilise or destroy the political, constitutional, economic or social basic structures of the federal government, a country or an international organisation” could fall within the terrorist category.
As we reported, the anti-establishment right-wing magazine Compact was recently banned by the interior ministry under the same pretext: “aggressively propagating the toppling of the political order,” and for being “directed against the constitutional order.” This argument was enough for the government to halt the activities of the magazine and order police to conduct a raid on its premises. No evidence was given that Compact had actually violated criminal law.
The anti-globalist opposition party AfD is also being harassed on the grounds of being a threat to the democratic order and has been officially designated as a “suspected extremist organisation,” meaning intelligence services have the right to spy on the party.
If the latest reports about the attempts by the state to raid private homes are true, then ordinary citizens, not just media organisations and political parties who publicly express their criticism of the government, have a good reason to be worried.
