On May 6 Friedrich Merz was elected as the new Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. The conservative CDU/CSU and the social democratic SPD are entering into a new coalition around six months after the failure of the last federal government in Germany.
A 144-page coalition agreement between the CDU/CSU and SPD sets out the political guidelines and plans for the coming legislative period of the government in Germany. The term “digital” is mentioned 187 times in this document. But this quantitative presence says nothing about the actual digital policy priorities of the new coalition.
Ambitious plans for eGovernment
A central goal of the new government in Germany is the modernization of public administration. Procedures are to be standardized at all levels of government and citizens will be required to have a central citizen account and a digital identity so that they can access all administrative services via a central digital platform.
In order to strengthen the digital autonomy of the authorities, software and a cloud environment for German authorities are to be developed under the project name “German Stack”.
Digital sovereignty and the fight against disinformation
In the area of digital sovereignty, the new government wants to promote sovereign cloud platforms and edge infrastructures, among other things to become less dependent on non-European providers. Government funding programs are also planned in the areas of microelectronics, Al and quantum computing. The open-source approach is also to be strengthened, for example through a strategically aligned IT budget and a new “Sovereign Tech Agency”.
Regarding the challenges posed by misinformation and hate speech, a clear and revised legal framework for media supervision authorities is planned to take more efficient action against online hate. A prohibition of the coordinated use of bots and fake accounts and a law against digital violence are also on the to-do list of the new German Government.
New ambitions in IT-Security and digital law enforcement
Another focus is on IT security. The agenda includes the further development of the National Cyber Security Strategy and the National Cyber Defense Center. The coalition is planning to implement the EU-wide NIS 2 Directive and an amendment to the national legal framework for IT security to redefine central security standards and responsibilities.
The coalition is also setting clear priorities around digital surveillance: a “proportionate three-month storage obligation for IP addresses and port numbers that complies with European and constitutional law” is to be introduced. After various attempts and court rulings, there is therefore once again a political plan to reintroduce data retention. Investigating authorities are also to be given new options for using surveillance software to combat serious crimes, as well as the possibility of conducting searches on the internet using automated data analysis.
“Overriding public interest” for network expansion
The new coalition also wants to ensure progress in the expansion of telecommunications infrastructure. The law already drafted by the previous government to accelerate the expansion of fibre and mobile networks is finally to be passed – including the definition of network expansion as an “overriding public interest” to facilitate planning and approval procedures.
More digital application procedures and a reduction in energy prices to ease the financial burden on network operators and consumers are also planned to speed up the roll-out.
The future of spectrum usage rights below 700 MHzs remains vague. The agreement of the new German Coalition only highlights, that various stakeholders will be affected here, such as the police and emergency services, media and culture.
A new Digital Ministry
A key change concerns the responsibilities in the new German Government: for the first time, there will be an independent Ministry of Digital Affairs at federal level. As Minister for Digital Affairs and State Modernization, Dr. Karsten Wildberger who comes to politics as a career changer and previously held the CEO position at the electronics retailer company Ceconemy AG, will drive Germany’s digital policy forward.
Ambitious plans on national level, but EU policy will also be key
In summary, it can be said that the new federal government in Germany has defined numerous ambitious plans in national digital and technology policy. Central key technologies and markets are to be promoted to increase digital autonomy and competitiveness.
However, it is not clear from reading the coalition agreement what goals the government intends to pursue in context of the EU Commission’s important digital policy projects – such as the Digital Networks Act. In order to strengthen Europe as a whole, a close cooperation between the EU Commission and large European member states such as Germany, France and Spain will be particularly important in the coming years. It will therefore be interesting to see how Germany’s digital policy will develop beyond the new government’s plans.
This article was written in cooperation with BASECAMP, Telefónica Deutschland’s Digital Public Policy blog.
