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Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

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Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#41

Post by beeforpork »

PurpleRamen wrote: post #25
miohtama wrote: post #18

What incidents are driving such a change?

Rumour goes that too many high ranking fraudulent CDU-politicians were exposed with this (Philipp Amthor and Jens Spahn for example).

The proposal to restrict the access to information came from Amthor himself -- he was in the working group to prepare this proposal for the coalition agreement.

It is not a rumour, it is a plain public fact. Amthor's shady connection to Augustus Intelligence was revealed by a request using this law.

https://fragdenstaat.de/artikel/exklusiv/2025/03/union-will-... (In German)

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#42

Post by rjmunro »

episodeiv wrote: post #8
philipwhiuk wrote: post #4

I'm not really sure I buy the alarm on restricting FoI requests to German citizens and EU citizens in Germany. Should a random US citizen be able to ask a random Germany government official for data? Why?

It's not just foreign nationals that would be barred from issuing requests but non-profit organizations as well. Also, the cap on fees would be eliminated, further increasing the barriers for people wanting to issue requests.

Is there any material difference between a non-profit asking and people who work for the non-profit asking? Is the maker of the request made public or something?

It sounds like the organizations thing might just be to stop foreign nationals using that as a workaround.

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#43

Post by rob74 »

eigenspace wrote: post #28
rob74 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First phrase in the article: "Shortly before the German parliament's summer recess, lawmakers approved a whole series of reforms." Sounds like "done and dusted" to me. The Bundesrat (the second chamber of the parliament) also approved, er... something, but it's not clear to me if it's just the health measures or also the rest. What's left is for the Bundespräsident to sign it, but that's a formality. And yes, no idea…

This hasn't been voted on in the Bundesttag yet, let alone the Bundesrat or Bundespräsident.

Ok, so what did they actually approve? Is this just a "declaration of intent", and the actual laws will follow later?! The article clearly says "lawmakers approved a whole series of reforms" - I was also surprised that this worked so quickly, but what do I know...

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#44

Post by schnitzelstoat »

varispeed wrote: post #39
Aeolun wrote: post #37

Wait? They previously allowed everybody and their mother to request the information? Limiting it to ‘citizens of the european union’ seems eminently reasonable.

Won't this require citizen to provide ID and therefore citizens asking difficult questions could become a target for retaliation?

You can also be a resident, paying plenty of taxes, yet not be a citizen.

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#45

Post by LauraMedia »

varispeed wrote: post #39
Aeolun wrote: post #37

Wait? They previously allowed everybody and their mother to request the information? Limiting it to ‘citizens of the european union’ seems eminently reasonable.

Won't this require citizen to provide ID and therefore citizens asking difficult questions could become a target for retaliation?

Yes, and there is currently talks if this also means NGOs like FragDenStaat or media outlets could no longer request information.

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#46

Post by master-lincoln »

varispeed wrote: post #39
Aeolun wrote: post #37

Wait? They previously allowed everybody and their mother to request the information? Limiting it to ‘citizens of the european union’ seems eminently reasonable.

Won't this require citizen to provide ID and therefore citizens asking difficult questions could become a target for retaliation?

was already the case https://www.bverwg.de/pm/2024/10

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#47

Post by BSDobelix »

flossly wrote: post #32
greenavocado wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Poland, but its on borrowed time due to the extreme fertility crisis.

Is fertility so important? Maybe the other western countries are equally infertile, but just allowed many immigrants in (which counts are population expansion) that also have more children on average. How are Japan and Korea holing out? They are further down the infertility down-spiral.

>How are Japan and Korea holing out?

https://japandaily.jp/why-japanese-elders-choose-prison-over...

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/1-in-3-south-kor...

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#48

Post by eigenspace »

Aeolun wrote: post #37

Wait? They previously allowed everybody and their mother to request the information? Limiting it to ‘citizens of the european union’ seems eminently reasonable.

Maybe, but the more problematic part is disallowing NGOs from submitting information requests. Multiple previous corruption scandals in Germany were exposed exactly because NGOs themselves were allowed to submit these information requests (and pay for them).

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#49

Post by eigenspace »

rob74 wrote: post #43
eigenspace wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This hasn't been voted on in the Bundesttag yet, let alone the Bundesrat or Bundespräsident.

Ok, so what did they actually approve? Is this just a "declaration of intent", and the actual laws will follow later?! The article clearly says "lawmakers approved a whole series of reforms" - I was also surprised that this worked so quickly, but what do I know...

I think the article just has poor wording. They went through a raft of different, unrelated reforms already, and this is part of the next set the CDUs want to get through.

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#50

Post by master-lincoln »

pizzao wrote: post #3
OKRainbowKid wrote: post #2

This seems to be the latest attempt of the conservative CDU to further reduce transparency and accountability of government officials. One could posit the goal is to enable corruption without all that hassle of the media potentially finding out about it.

A country in decay..

yep, it's the populists communication strategies winning over the voters so people in power can screw the populace as they like and the spin doctors (not the band) will make people think it's in their interest.
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