Following the AfD’s victory in Saxony-Anhalt, the Greens have strongly criticized the handling of intelligence services by Federal Minister of the Interior, Alexander Dobrindt (CSU). During an interview with the “Tagesspiegel”, Konstantin von Notz (Greens)-Vice Parliamentary Group Leader and Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Control Board-stated that there have been repeated calls for the Federal Ministry of the Interior to protect various institutions, including the collaboration between intelligence services.
However, von Notz noted that the federal government has remained inactive. He criticized the lack of concrete measures that are currently known.
The Green politician labeled Dobrindt’s prior inaction a “massive failure and simply devastating,” adding that the federal government’s “laissez-faire approach in these security-politically central issues irritates us hugely.” According to von Notz, these issues have implications far beyond the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
Given the already high threat level, von Notz emphasized that there must be determined efforts to prevent extremely sensitive data from falling into the hands of wrongdoers, calling on the federal government to finally fulfill its responsibilities.
The concern covers not just domestic services, but overall intelligence cooperation in Germany, Europe, and internationally. Von Notz expressed surprise that a sense of urgency is only emerging after election night, noting that such rounds of discussion should have been convened months ago, despite being repeatedly highlighted as necessary by the authorities themselves.
He described the current situation as a bizarre spectacle: the acting chairman of the Interior Ministers Conference is now using the interior minister’s massive oversights to take action on his own, according to von Notz. He pointed out that Dobrindt had been excessively slow on issues such as drones, while other nations are now holding summits on the topic. Apparently, the ministers have lost patience with waiting for Dobrindt.
