Germany dismisses ‘Islam law’

Govt lacks legal means to retaliate with cyber attacks

BERLIN, April 4, (RTRS): Germany has no plans to introduce an ‘Islam law’ codifying the rights and obligations of Muslims, a government spokesman said on Monday, dismissing an idea floated by allies of Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of federal elections in September.

Merkel, who will seek a fourth term in what is expected to be a close-fought ballot, has come under fire for opening Germany’s doors to refugees, more than one million of whom — mostly Muslims — have entered the country over the past two years.

Seeking to boost support for the chancellor’s conservatives, senior Merkel ally Julia Kloeckner stoked the integration debate at the weekend by calling for stricter rules for Islamic preachers and a ban on foreign funding of mosques.

Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert dismissed the idea, which Kloeckner — who is deputy leader of the chancellor’s Christian Democrats (CDU) — and other senior party members want to enshrine in an Islam law.

“Such a law is now not an issue for government business,” Seibert told a news conference, stressing the high regard Merkel’s ruling coalition has for religious freedom in Germany.

While stopping short of calling for an Islam law, Merkel said in her weekly podcast on Saturday that refugees in Germany must respect tolerance, openness and freedom of religion.

Ban

The message backed up a less compromising tone on integrating migrants that Merkel set at a CDU party conference in December, when she called for a ban on full-face Muslim veils “wherever legally possible”.

By talking tougher on integration, Merkel is also seeking to reclaim support her party lost last year over her refugee policy to the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which punished the CDU in regional elections in 2016.

The AfD has lost voter support this year, hurt by infighting that has sent its ratings down to around 8 percent from a high of 15.5 percent at the end of 2016.

In the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte used a similar tactic to win re-election this year, seizing back the initiative from anti-Islam populist rivals by matching some of their tough rhetoric on

immigration.

Germany’s far-left Linke party said on Monday that NATO should be replaced by an alliance including Russia, called for an end to weapons exports as US President Donald Trump urges more defence spending, and demanded an end to German combat missions.

But the party did not insist on withdrawing from NATO while presenting its draft programme for a Sept. 24 election as it eyes a possible ‘red-red-green’ alliance with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens. The Linke’s opposition to NATO contributed to its status as political pariah in the past.

The latest polls show the Linke on 8 percent support. Some have suggested a three-way left-leaning alliance could just about muster enough support for a majority in the Bundestag lower house of parliament. The three parties have already held talks to explore that coalition option.

Misrepresentation

“Other parties always assume that leaving NATO is a red line for us, but that’s a misrepresentation of our position — we’re fighting for NATO to be replaced by a collective security system that involves Russia,” said co-chair Katja Kipping.

“We’re not doing that because we’re great fans of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin ... If you want peace in Europe you need de-escalation and cooperation with Russia ... but saying we must definitely leave NATO isn’t a red line for us,” she said.

The German government is scrambling to respond to a serious and growing threat of cyber attacks, but it lacks the legal framework to retaliate with cyber attacks of its own, top officials said on Monday.

Cybersecurity is a major concern for Berlin as a Sept. 24 federal election approaches. German intelligence agencies said in December Russia was seeking to use propaganda, cyber attacks and other means to destabilise German society before the vote .

“Cyber is what keeps me up at night,” Deputy Defense Minister Katrin Suder told reporters at an event hosted by the Federal Academy for Security Policy, a government training body. “This is not science fiction anymore ... It is a topic of immense and growing importance.”

Suder said the German military was making progress with a new cyber command that starts operations on Wednesday, and control over cyber functions that had been scattered across the military had become more centralised.

She underscored the division of responsibilities between the military and the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for domestic cyber attacks, adding that the Bundeswehr itself would call the police if it suffered a major cyber attack.

Retaliate

Suder said the military would only retaliate after a large-scale attack on Germany if parliament ordered it to. She rejected some lawmakers’ concerns about insufficient oversight of the various governmental arms involved in cybersecurity.

“Existing laws apply, even in cyberspace,” she said, noting that any offensive cyber measures would come as part of military mandates that had already been approved by parliament. “The rules are very clear and we observe them.”

But Agnieszka Brugger, a member of the pro-environment Greens who serves on the defence committee, said the ministry’s decision to sanction offensive measures raised risks that had not been fully considered. The military should focus more on defending its own weapons and computer systems, she said.

Brugger also questioned how the new cyber command’s work would intersect with that of the BND foreign intelligence service, the BSI cyber security agency and other bodies. “We need a single parliamentary control body that has the overview of all operations. The current fragmented legal authorities and the multitude of actors result in grave gaps in control,” she told Reuters. “Many legal questions are unclear.”

Andreas Koenen, head of the cyber security directorate at the Interior Ministry, agreed, telling the conference that Berlin so far lacks an adequate legal basis for counter-attacks. New legislation was unlikely to be approved before the September elections, he said.

“No agency is explicitly empowered to carry out such measures,” he said. “We don’t have a legal basis. We might get the technical capabilities together at the last minute.”