The controversial reform allows intelligence services to carry out sabotage, secretly enter homes and expand surveillance
The German parliament has passed sweeping legislation granting the country’s intelligence agencies unprecedented powers to conduct sabotage, secretly enter homes, and expand surveillance. The controversial law has prompted comparisons with the Gestapo and Stasi, the notorious secret police organizations of Nazi Germany and Communist East Germany.
The legislation, championed by Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s governing coalition, was approved on Friday by 300 votes to 190, with 71 abstentions. Only the ruling CDU/CSU bloc and Social Democrats backed the reform. The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) and The Left opposed it, while the Greens abstained.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt hailed the overhaul as a “reform of the century,” declaring a “new era” for German intelligence agencies that would put them on an “equal footing with our European partners.”
He defended the measures by citing alleged threats from espionage, sabotage, cyberattacks and other hostile activities aimed at destabilizing Germany.
From surveillance to sabotage
The legislation fundamentally changes the role of Germany’s two principal intelligence agencies: the foreign intelligence service (BND) and the domestic Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: rt.com
