Immigration: What is in Germany's new 'security package'?

German lawmakers on Friday approved a package of security and immigration measures in response to Islamist-inspired attacks earlier this year in the western city of Solingen. 

The measures, presented by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition, includes a ban on knives at public events, as well as strengthened immigration measures.

Response to Islamist attacks

Heated debates erupted in Germany this summer following the two separate knife attacks by suspected extremists that left a total of four people dead in both the city of Mannheim and the smaller town of Solingen.

One of the attackers was an Afghan living in Germany, the other came from Syria.

Another reason why the federal government promised tougher laws in the fight against extremism and stricter laws on asylum, residence and weapons was the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia in early September, in which the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a party classified as right-wing extremist, saw an increase in votes.

Now, the governing coalition of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) has agreed on a modified security package. Earlier criticism led the coalition to make further changes to the package.

What is included in the so-called security package?

The new security package includes stricter gun laws. Knife bans will also be strengthened and at certain events, knives will be banned entirely. There will be exceptions in the catering sector.

In addition, the powers of the Federal Police and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) are to be expanded. They will be allowed to use biometric facial recognition, but only when prosecuting more serious crimes.

Security authorities will also have the ability to automatically look for people's identities based on their faces and voiced, but only in the case a judge approves the request to make use of the measure. The request has to come from the BKA's top echelons, either from the organization's president or from his three vice presidents.

Most discussions focused on the tightening of asylum and residence laws.

The package stipulates that refugees who were previously registered in another EU country before coming to Germany and who have already been ordered to leave the country will have their social benefits reduced.

The only exception, however, is that this will only apply if the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees deems it "legal and possible" for those individuals to be deported.

The coalition parties also want to make it easier to deport people who have committed serious crimes. In addition, if asylum seekers travel back to their home country, this will be grounds for denying them protection in the future. However, there will also be exceptions here, such as a parent's funeral.

What are the criticisms?

There has been no shortage of criticism of the package. Opposition parties such as the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and regional Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) say that the latest changes have left the package "full of holes like a Swiss cheese."

Herbert Reul, CDU politician and Interior Minister of the most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia told the public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that he has great doubts that this package would ultimately solve the problems. He called for the police and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution to be given more discretion.

The German Association of Judges called it a "minipackage."  In a statement, the organization said the proposed knife bans and new powers for the police would not do much for domestic security. It also added that something crucial had been omitted: no agreement was reached on new regulations for the storage of IP addresses, something that would have made a real difference in the fight against crime.

The package was also criticized in principle even before the negotiations began.

The Migration Working Group of the SPD questioned why the rules for all asylum seekers were being tightened in the wake of Islamic terrorism.

"The measures have hardly anything to do with what happened in Solingen, and yet the package would place an entire demographic group under general suspicion, and this could lead to chaos for the authorities," said chairman Aziz Bozkurt, who is a state secretary in the Berlin state government.

Journalist and migration expert Gilda Sahebi also spoke out on X after agreement was reached on the revised security package, saying  the focus of the package is misplaced.

What's the next step?

The amendments to the government's draft legislation are to be voted on this Wednesday by the Committee on Internal Affairs. The amended security package could be passed by the Bundestag on Friday at the latest. However, it is questionable whether this will  happen. The head of the CDU/CSU faction, Friedrich Merz, will advise his party's members to reject the package.

This article was originally written in German.

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