As part of the budget deliberations, the Bundestag held a contentious debate over domestic security and migration policy. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) defended his approach to strengthening the security authorities and his tough stance on migration policy on Thursday. The AfD accused the government of continuing to spend billions of euros on immigrants. The Greens and the Left criticised cuts to funding for prevention and political education.
Germany was a “daily target” of cyberattacks, espionage and disinformation, Dobrindt said. “We are not at war, but we are the daily target of hybrid warfare.” The aim was to destabilise society. Germany therefore needed to expand its security architecture.
At the same time, the federal government was “clearly also naming the perpetrators” of hybrid attacks, Dobrindt said. He defended the attribution of responsibility for the explosives-carrying drone incident at Leipzig Airport as “possible and necessary”. Dobrindt accused critics of the attribution of the following: “Those who constantly call for evidence while deliberately ignoring evidence are not showing healthy scepticism, but are engaging in sick sabotage.”
AfD MP Gottfried Curio then accused Dobrindt of wanting to use the sabotage accusation to “prevent scrutiny”. At the same time, he criticised the federal government’s policies as “hostile to the native population to the point of excess”. It was cutting social benefits and raising taxes “to continue giving away billions abroad” in order to finance “foreign wars” such as the war in Ukraine. At the same time, the “migration turnaround” claimed by Dobrindt was not taking place; in reality, more people were still coming to Germany.
The Greens supported many investment programmes, including those aimed at strengthening civil protection, but described the package as “a sham deal”. In reality, instead of the announced ten billion euros in investment, there were only six to 6.5 billion euros, “because administrative costs have simply been reclassified as investments”, said MP Leon Eckert. At the same time, the government was cutting funding for political education and integration in the budget.
“You are increasing spending on the security authorities, (...) but you are cutting, and this is truly reprehensible, funding for political education,” said Left MP Dietmar Bartsch. In view of the AfD’s election victory in Saxony-Anhalt, this was the wrong approach. Bartsch also criticised Dobrindt’s policy on deportations to Afghanistan: “For a few deportations, you are seriously cuddling up to the Taliban, who despise human rights and women,” he said.
SPD domestic policy spokesman Martin Gerster stressed that, in order to strengthen Germany’s resilience, it had been crucial that the exception to the debt brake was extended beyond defence to also allow investment in civil protection and security. Gerster also saw “a need for discussion and action” in the area of political education. This would now be discussed with the Union in the further deliberations on the budget.
Expenditure under the Interior Ministry’s budget is set at €16.71 billion for 2027. That is just over three percent more than this year. Spending on the Federal Police, the Federal Criminal Police Office, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, as well as the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), will be increased.
Funding for the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) will be slightly reduced, from €999 million to €994 million. Spending in the area of “Integration and Migration, Minorities and Displaced Persons” will also fall by €328 million to €1.07 billion. Around €590 million will be available for integration courses.
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