After the right-wing extremist murders in hanau at the beginning of this year, the federal government is now taking on concrete projects to combat racism and extremism.
The cabinet committee on combating right-wing extremism and racism adopted a corresponding paper with 89 points on wednesday in berlin. The cabinet as a whole is to adopt it next week.
"Today we are presenting a comprehensive catalog of measures to strengthen our defensible democracy," declared federal justice minister christine lambrecht (SPD). "This defensible democracy lives from the commitment of innumerable democratic initiatives, which we finally want to put on a stable legal basis."
The federal government plans to make more than one billion euros available for these projects between 2021 and 2024. If the budget committee approves, another 150 million euros will be added to the budget.
Among the projects is a law on the demand for a defensible democracy, which the federal ministry of the interior and the ministry of family affairs are to draw up jointly. Among other things, it is intended to ensure that extremism is adequately prevented. When asked whether this was the democracy law that the SPD had been calling for for a long time, a spokesman for the federal interior minister replied that it was a "different project in terms of content". In the opinion of federal interior minister horst seehofer (CSU), there can be no law whose sole purpose is to demand specific projects.
A series of prevention programs is also planned, as well as the establishment of a "federal institute for quality assurance" to monitor effectiveness. Political education in general is to be improved. The government also confirms that the term "race" will be removed from the basic law.
The civil service is to launch targeted campaigns to recruit more people with an immigrant background and review selection procedures. Right-wing extremism in the security services and in the public sector as a whole is to be examined in a separate situation report. The government also wants to call for research projects on everyday racism, anti-semitism and muslimophobia, as well as on the everyday life of the police.
The foreign office wants to devote more time to coming to terms with colonialism, which should also be reflected in school textbooks. The ministry of justice intends to draft proposals for changes in the penal code, which would, among other things, serve to combat so-called "enemy lists. This refers to lists on which right-wing extremists usually list supposed opponents such as politicians, activists or journalists. Victims of crime to receive more support, hotline to be set up for people experiencing racism. The federal government’s commissioner for victims of terrorist crimes, edgar franke (SPD), demanded: "we must ensure that the corona crisis does not become a crisis of democracy. Agitators and racists are much too loud, although they are a small minority."
The federal government’s integration commissioner, annette widmann-mauz (CDU), sees decisive progress. The package "succeeded in focusing on the perspective of those affected and ensuring that their expertise is incorporated into concrete work to combat right-wing extremism and racism". A council of experts of the federal government on questions of integration, participation and the fight against racism should help in this process.
The federal government had set up the cabinet committee after the right-wing extremist murders in hanau. In addition to chancellor angela merkel (CDU), members include interior minister seehofer and widmann-mauz.