Germans Divided on Politicians' Protection Against Insults, Polls Show

Many Germans want their politicians to be stripped of the special protection against defamation and insults they enjoy under current laws, a recent survey conducted by the INSA polling agency has shown. The issue has come into the spotlight following dozens of criminal cases opened against people calling Chancellor Friedrich Merz names online, with some of them facing thousands of euros in fines as a result.

A person can face up to a year behind bars or a fine for insulting someone under the German Criminal Code. In case of politicians, though, the punishment is tripled if the insult is related to their public position and is “likely to significantly impede their public activities” as stipulated in a separate article.

According to INSA, 43% of Germans would like to see this article, known as Paragraph 188, scrapped. Only 32% wanted to leave it as is, with the rest not giving a specific answer.

The support for the move is particularly strong among the backers of opposition parties, with 67% of Free Democrats’ supporters and 64% of Alternative for Germany (AfD) voters wanting it gone. Supporters of Merz’s Christian Democratic Union were the only ones overwhelmingly supportive of keeping the controversial article in place, with 55% of them opposing any changes, the poll suggested.

The INSA survey was conducted between June 5 and 8 and involved 2,009 German nationals aged 18 or above. Another poll conducted by the Forsa Institute last week, which involved 1,007 respondents, painted a different picture, as it showed that 58% of Germans wanted to keep the legislation while 38% wanted it abolished.

Several German news media outlets reported in early June that the police had opened nearly 40 criminal cases over a string of angry comments under a post on Facebook about the chancellor’s visit to a southwestern German city of Heilbronn. Although 15 cases were eventually dropped, others were brought to court, which one man recieving a fine exceeding €2,000 ($2,322) for calling Merz “lying Fritz.”

The chancellor’s office said at the time that Merz himself did not file any charges but maintained that criminal prosecution of those insulting public officials was a “normal” legal procedure that “must be protected.”

Merz, who is known for telling Germans to work more while claiming the welfare state is obsolete and unviable, was ranked the world’s most unpopular leader in April. In May, the German media reported his own party was mulling replacing him because of a record low rating.