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GERMANY: A "new war" on civil liberties? - the German response to the attacks on 11 September

01 August 2001

The German authorities, similar to their European counterparts, have responded to the attacks of 11 September with a 3 billion DM boost to Germany's internal security apparatus and a catalogue of security measures.
The measures will affect civil liberties and, in particular, the rights of foreigners in Germany and people with Islamic background. They include applying anti-terrorist legislation - formerly used against German militant activists - to non-Germans (without them having committed a criminal act or without the terrorist group they are allegedly part of actually existing in Germany). Existing stop and search powers (see Statewatch vol 10 issue 5) have been used in a nation-wide dragnet control operation specifically targetting migrants. Students with Arabic background are systematically checked for possible "terrorist" links. Other measures include the possible introduction of fingerprints in passports, the creation of "mobility profiles" of mobile phone users and the abolition of financial privacy in account handling. On the foreign policy front, conservatives have now proposed a change in the Basic Law to allow for Germany's armed forces to become active abroad without a prior parliamentary decision on the legality of such operations.

The state of emergency
On the day of the attacks, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the leader of the Federal Chancellory declared a security situation under which the Federal Security Council holds daily meetings until further notice. The Security Council, created by a cabinet decision in 1955, consists of high-ranking security officials from relevant authorities, namely, the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy as well as the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development. With the Prime Minister, the leader of the Federal Chancellor’s Office and representatives of the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA) and German services abroad, the security council has around a dozen members. It meets, under the auspices of the Federal Chancellory, and are top secret, its remits is the coordination of the government’s security and defence and Germany"s arms export policies. The Council "analyses actual and potential dangers to the Federal Republic of Germany, coordinates the activities of the different authorities and prepares necessary measures and decisions".
The Council oversaw two "anti-terror packages", the first of which was proposed by the Chancellor"s Office on 19 September and passed by the Lower House of the German parliament on 11 October. Also on 19 September, the Federal Chancellery decided to allocate 3 billion marks for the fight against terrorism in the 2002 budget. The final draft of the second anti-terror package, the "Government Proposal for the Fight Against International Terrorism" is currently being prepared and expected to come before parliament shortly.
More money, less liberties
The extent and nature of the proposed (and agreed) security measures is far-reaching. There are budgetary increases for the German armed forces and for the secret services (for the intensification of its investigation into terrorism) and more provisions for the Federal Border Guards (Bundesgrenzschutz), the Federal Office for Criminal Investigations (Bundeskriminalamt), the Public Prosecutor and general security control measures.
The measures however, that will directly affect civil liberties, especially of the non-German population, is firstly the change in the Regulation for Officially Listed Associations (hereafter Vereinsrecht) to annul religious privileges and secondly, a change in the Criminal Code to enable the prosecution of persons who are alleged/"suspected" members of terrorist organisations abroad, even if they are not active in Germany or if these organisations do not exist in Germany. This throws up the question of the definition of terrorist o