Secret meeting of interior ministers about a possible AfD government in Saxony-Anhalt

According to information from WELT AM SONNTAG, Germany's interior ministers will meet at short notice at the Federal Ministry of the Interior next Monday. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on October 5th, the paper will be about drone defense and new powers. But the meeting of federal and state ministers has a further, confidential background: the possible threat of the AfD government in Saxony-Anhalt and access to the state's security authorities.

A spokesman for Hamburg's interior authority, who currently chairs the country's most important security policy association, confirmed the date to this editorial team: "The ministers will meet for a working meeting next Monday."

Federal Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) takes part in the rounds of the Interior Ministers' Conference as a permanent guest. In the so-called ministerial fireside format, a confidential meeting without employees and minutes, the interior ministers will discuss further options for protecting sources and secrets on this day.

In plain language: It is about a limited exchange of information with Saxony-Anhalt, should the AfD provide the state government and the interior minister. This scenario has been controversially discussed in security circles for months.

According to his own words, AfD leading candidate Ulrich Siegmund would like to be elected Prime Minister in Saxony-Anhalt in December. The prospect of an AfD-led state government is causing considerable unrest in security circles. The focus is on two fears: Firstly, representatives of a party classified as right-wing extremist by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Saxony-Anhalt could gain access to sensitive information and observation structures. Secondly, there is growing concern that confidential data from the German security network could end up in the wrong hands via political switching points.

If the interior ministers come to an agreement, only the intelligence information that is absolutely necessary will be allowed to flow to Magdeburg in the future. Confidential situation reports, information about extremists and information about informant structures, particularly in right-wing extremism, could be withheld. Access to the Nadis intelligence information system could also be reduced. There is no question that Saxony-Anhalt would continue to be warned in the event of acute danger situations such as impending terrorist attacks.

Most recently, under the influence of the Saxony-Anhalt election, the Conference of Interior Ministers had already abandoned its previously applicable principle of unanimity. Accordingly, anything that receives a majority of at least 13 of the 16 votes in the committee is deemed to have been decided with immediate effect. Here, too, there were concerns that an AfD interior minister could possibly block important decisions.