Danger of terrorism: CDU politician: Government puts shackles on security authorities

In view of the growing Islamist terrorist threat, CDU domestic politician Christoph de Vries has accused the government of doing too little to prevent attacks. “We see that the threat from outside and inside is increasing and that at the same time the courts and the traffic light coalition are putting more and more shackles on the security authorities,” said the member of the Bundestag Interior Committee of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung”. “This can’t work out well in the long run.”

De Vries finds it problematic that Internet providers in Germany are not even required by law to store computer addresses for a while. He requires a minimum storage period for these IP addresses. “The danger is not the services, but the extremists. We must finally become aware of that.”

In a decision published in September, the Federal Administrative Court stated that data retention is contrary to European law, i.e. the comprehensive storage of telecommunications traffic and location data without reason and, so to speak, in reserve. However, the court also noted that IP addresses could be stored to combat serious crime and prevent serious threats to public safety – but this was not clearly stated in the Telecommunications Act. On the question of data storage, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) have been at loggerheads for months.

At the latest since the heated atmosphere since the terrorist attack on Israel by the Islamist Hamas and Israel’s counter-offensive in the Gaza Strip, the threat of terrorism has also grown again in Germany. Recently, several suspects were arrested in Germany who could have planned attacks, for example on Christmas markets or Jewish institutions.