Greens are calling for a stop to the reform of the Freedom of Information Act

With a motion in the Bundestag, the Greens want to prevent a reform of the Freedom of Information Act. The federal government is planning to restrict the public administration's information obligations to citizens - the Greens reject this. “Strengthening freedom of information instead of restricting it – for a federal transparency law and a right to open data” is the title of the motion that the parliamentary group submitted and which is available to ZEIT in advance.

The Greens do not have a majority and the government parties are likely to reject the proposal. So the attempt to stop the reform of the Freedom of Information Act is unlikely to be successful. The Greens are nevertheless forcing the CDU, CSU and SPD to have a debate about an issue that they have so far avoided.

The restriction of the Freedom of Information Act (IFG) is part of the larger “Program for Growth and Employment” reform package, which is intended to make the state and the federal administration leaner and more efficient. Freedom of information is negotiated as point 32 of 34. The IFG should be further developed and adapted to the current challenges, according to the coalition paper.

Are we allowed to know less in order to reduce the burden on the state?

Konstantin von Notz, the deputy leader of the Green Party, doubts that the government is only interested in modernizing. »The plans of the CDU, CSU and SPD are simply devastating. Freedom of information and transparency are central achievements of the democratic constitutional state. They create trust and enable democratic control,” says von Notz. "In times when populism and disinformation are rampant, they are more important than ever."

The red-green government coalition passed the Freedom of Information Act (IFG) in 2005. It came into force at the beginning of the following year. The IFG allows citizens to request information from administrations about how work is done there, what decisions were made and even how individual departments acted. “In accordance with this law, everyone has a right to access to official information from the federal authorities,” it says. Insights into files, reports, e-mail histories, notices, reports, service instructions, memos and other correspondence can be requested. The law is an important research tool for the media, non-governmental organizations and citizens' initiatives.

This far-reaching right of citizens to information is now being curtailed. Only natural persons who “have a legitimate interest in information and cannot obtain it through other regulations” should receive information. Who decides whether an interest in information is justified and how this can be proven remains unclear.