Free Republic

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has sought to head off far-right claims of voter fraud ahead of Germany’s general election in September while highlighting threats of cyberattacks from both inside and outside Germany. At a press conference on Wednesday flanked by the heads of Germany’s election authority, domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, and cybersecurity agency, the BSI, Seehofer laid out the security threats to Germany’s election and how the authorities are planning to fend them off. “Our authorities will do everything thinkable to make sure the Bundestag election will be carried out in an orderly and secure way,” Seehofer told...

The original article is in German, an English summary is given here: https://blogestrenos.com/german-ministry-hired-scientists-to-induce-corona-fear/ At the beginning of last year, the German Ministry of the Interno worked with several scientists on a strategy to increase fear of corona in order to foster understanding for drastic corona measures. The newspaper Die Welt reports this on the basis of a leaked email exchange. Minister of the Interno Seehofer and the scientists involved have so far not responded. Opposition parties demand clarification. The emails date from March and April 2020, when Germany was in the first lockdown. Seehofer was concerned about easing too quickly...

German Medical Association president Klaus Reinhardt has been forced to clarify his position on mask-wearing after his claim that there was no “scientific evidence they are actually helpful” sparked an outcry from politicians and doctors. Reinhardt told a TV talk show on public broadcaster ZDF that he had doubts wearing simple non-medical masks outdoors was effective against the coronavirus. Such face coverings, he said, offered “no protection at all” to those wearing them, and only “very little protection against infecting others.” A sharp rise in coronavirus cases across Germany in recent weeks has led to stricter rules in many cities,...

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer gained Cabinet backing Wednesday for his Orderly Return Bill (Geordnete-Rückkehr-Gesetz). The plan will go to parliament for debate, and could pass before the summer recess. However, German states do not all approve of the plan, which would see asylum seekers who are to be deported being held in state jails rather than pre-deportation holding facilities. Seehofer said his package contained “strong elements” that would facilitate expulsions. Last year, Germany deported about 25,000 people. This represents just over a tenth of the total number of people ordered to leave the country. […] Following Europe’s 2015 refugee...

The head of Germany’s domestic security service has been dismissed for a speech in which he criticized government parties, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Monday. Seehofer said the speech made by Hans-Georg Maassen, in which he accused the Social Democrats (SPD), junior partners in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition, of “naivety” and harboring “radical left” elements, was unacceptable. […] Germany’s ruling coalition had agreed in September to transfer spy chief Maassen to the Interior Ministry following accusations that he harbored far-right views. …

Party sources said Sunday evening that German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer had offered his resignation both from the cabinet and as CSU leader after unexpectedly re-escalating his standoff with Chancellor Angela Merkel over Germany’s asylum policy. But according to reports from a crunch leadership meeting in Munich that stretched into early Monday morning, other senior party figures had tried to dissuade Seehofer from stepping down. A press conference that had been expected all evening was eventually postponed, with party sources telling reporters that Seehofer was going to seek one more talk with Merkel on Monday about asylum policy before deciding...

As Chancellor Angela Merkel fights to save her government in a heated battle over immigration, an opinion poll Friday showed most Germans support the tougher line of her rebel interior minister. The survey found that 62 percent of respondents were in favor of turning back undocumented migrants at the border, in line with the stance of Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who is openly challenging Merkel. And 86 percent want faster deportations of rejected asylum seekers, a process now often held up by bureaucratic hurdles and legal challenges, according to the Infratest dimap poll. The survey turns up the pressure on...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced a tense showdown Thursday within her divided conservative camp over the flashpoint issue of immigration that could threaten her political future. Merkel was confronted with an open rebellion by her hardline Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, long a fierce critic of her liberal stance on refugees who wants to toughen border controls. After late-night talks between them failed to resolve the dispute, a parliamentary session Thursday was suspended to allow the rival camps — Merkel’s CDU and its traditional sister party from Bavaria, Seehofer’s CSU — to each huddle for strategy talks. Seehofer has demanded, as...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s incoming interior minister on Sunday vowed to take a tough line against convicted criminal migrants and speed up repatriations of rejected asylum seekers. Horst Seehofer, from Merkel’s conservative Bavarian sister party the CSU, also promised a broader “zero-tolerance” law and order drive under their new government to be launched Wednesday. Seehofer was long the harshest critic within Merkel’s conservative bloc of her decision to open Germany’s borders to a mass influx of refugees and migrants since 2015. […] In an interview with newspaper Bild am Sonntag, Seehofer said that as the new head of an expanded...