NETWORK POLITICS

Chat control: Germany will vote against the current proposal

19/06/2024

When it came to the controversial chat controls, Germany’s position on the current proposal was long unclear. In the evening, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Fesser (SPD) clarified that Germany rejects the controversial compromise text of the Belgian Council presidency.

European action should be taken against the distribution of images and videos of child sexual abuse, according to a statement by the Interior Ministry on Wednesday evening. “It is right to hold online platforms responsible so that depictions of abuse can be discovered, removed and offenders prosecuted,” says Nancy Fesser. If the current proposal stands, the representative of the Federal Republic will have to vote no, said the SPD politician. “Because we have to act in a targeted manner and maintain a constitutional balance. The encrypted private communications of millions of people should not be monitored without reason. In the federal government we have long agreed on this. There is also widespread criticism (of the surveillance plan) in the European Parliament.”

However, it is important to further develop the good tools of the planned regulation proposal: “With the EU Centre against Child Abuse, we can support victims. We also want to give them, for the first time, a clear right to find out whether images of abuse are still in circulation.” According to the Federal Interior Minister, children’s dignity is repeatedly violated until adulthood if images of abuse remain available.

The Belgian proposal for surveillance without reason had previously been clearly criticised, including by parliamentary groups in the traffic light coalition. Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) had already made the Belgian Council presidency’s rejection of the proposal known, but if there were disagreements in the coalition, this could also mean a boycott. The “common approach” for negotiations between the Council, the European Parliament and the EU Commission in the so-called triumvirate is the negotiating mandate for the Council of the EU member states. It remains to be seen whether a majority for the controversial proposal against Germany is possible.