Does an extremist group receive money from abroad? Who finances New Right events? It has so far been difficult for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution to find out. That should change.
In order to better clarify connections in right-wing extremism in the future, research into financial flows of extremist groups should be simplified. A corresponding legislative proposal, which would lower the hurdles for requests for information from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution on accounts and financial transactions in such cases, is currently being prepared in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the ministry said.
In response to the Potsdam meeting, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) declared that “the personal and financial connections in right-wing extremist networks must be examined more closely,” her ministry said.
AfD politicians as well as individual members of the CDU and the very conservative Values Union also took part in the meeting of radical right-wingers on November 25th, which the media company Correctiv reported on. The former head of the Identitarian Movement in Austria, Martin Sellner, spoke at the meeting in Potsdam about “remigration” – when right-wing extremists use this term, they usually mean that a large number of people of foreign origin should leave the country, even under Obligation.
What applies so far
So far, investigations by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution into the financial activities of extremists have only been possible if a group can be proven to have a connection to violence or if it is “incited to hatred or arbitrary measures against parts of the population”. In the future, the potential threat to the free democratic basic order should also be crucial here.
Faeser is taking up the approach of the Federal Constitutional Court, according to which surveillance powers depend on the risk potential, her ministry said. The explanation was: “This is determined according to criteria that, in addition to incitement and militancy, include other factors such as action potential and social influence.”
Even if the project is initially about clarification by the intelligence service, in certain cases such findings could also lead to these funding streams being interrupted if criminally relevant events emerge. In addition, the discovery of financial connections could, in individual cases, lead to a reassessment of a particular group.
“Action plan against right-wing extremism”
In order for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution to obtain information on financial transactions more quickly, the Federal Ministry of the Interior believes that the procedures should be relatively quick and unbureaucratic in the future. From the ministry’s point of view, it would be inappropriate to require the same complex approval process that is required for telecommunications surveillance to simply provide information about where someone has a checking account.
The aim of the legal expansion of financial investigations is also “so that no one who donates to right-wing extremist organizations or supports them financially in any other way can rely on remaining undetected.”
Faeser presented an “action plan against right-wing extremism” in March 2022. Some of the measures contained therein have now been implemented, such as a change in the law that makes it possible to remove enemies of the constitution more quickly from public service. The Federal Ministry of the Interior is still in discussions with FDP politicians about the planned tightening of gun laws, who fear that this could also affect hunters.
At the beginning of the week, the Federal Government’s Integration Commissioner, Reem Alabali-Radovan (SPD), once again urged that the planned Democracy Promotion Act, which is intended to enable longer-term support for civil society initiatives, be passed in the Bundestag soon.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
