News blog on federal politics Schwesig urges Merz to meet with the Prime Minister
September 25, 2026, 10:50 a.m
“I expect that the Chancellor will now also invite the Prime Minister and talk about the reforms, because we have an important say,” says the head of government of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
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Important updates
Bundestag passes federal police law after new vote
Schwesig: “Expect the Chancellor to also talk to the Prime Minister about social reforms”
SPD Frankfurt calls for a new election of the party leadership in the federal government
Bundestag is discussing possible new regulations on organ donation
Cabinet approves action plan against social fraud and exploitation
Anna Schimpp
Schwesig: “Expect the Chancellor to also talk to the Prime Minister about social reforms”
The Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Manuela Schwesig, has called on Chancellor Friedrich Merz to hold a conference with the state leaders on the federal government's controversial reform agenda. “I expect that the Chancellor will now also invite the Prime Minister and talk about the reforms, because we have an important say,” said the SPD politician on Friday in the ARD morning magazine.
Schwesig sharply criticized the federal government's plans. "But what's on the table are, above all, cuts. And for me, reforms are when you really go into the structures and change things," she said. 81 percent of the population consider the reforms to be unfair. Given the approval of only five percent for the Chancellor in her federal state, he has to “self-critically ask himself what is not going right.” Schwesig, whose SPD ended up in second place behind the AfD in the most recent state election after catching up, also attributed the government parties' poor performance to their policies.
Specifically, Schwesig defended the pension without deductions after 45 years of contributions. She pointed out that other prime ministers from East and West had also joined her criticism, including from the Chancellor's CDU. It is unfair to burden those who have been paying into the system for the longest time. Schwesig also criticized the earlier expiry of the fuel discount as a mistake. This was a “real rage issue” in her state and a reason why many people voted for the AfD. A new fuel discount is to be decided on Friday.
Carim Soliman
Bundestag passes federal police law after new vote
After a voting mishap, the Bundestag approved the Federal Police Act with expanded rights for officers in the second attempt. The law stipulates that the federal police will have more rights in the border area and when using and defending against drones. The federal police are primarily supposed to guard train stations and railway facilities, but also the government district in Berlin and the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe. It should also be given more powers in law enforcement and in combating illegal migration.
The amendment also provides more powers for the federal police in law enforcement, for example at train stations. In the future, they should not only be able to identify perpetrators there and hand them over to the state police, but also be able to arrest perpetrators themselves, initiate house searches or wiretap. In the future, she will be able to take migrants who are required to leave the country into custody for deportation without having to hand them over to the state police.
The absolute majority voted in favor of the project in a roll-call vote on Friday. The vote had to be repeated after the Bundestag passed a resolution with a simple majority in the summer. It subsequently turned out that the law required the so-called chancellor majority, i.e. the absolute majority. It will also pass the Federal Council on Friday, which is considered certain - the project does not require approval.
The federal police have upgraded and developed their own capacities in recent years. It itself uses drones for border surveillance, for example, and also has drones that can combat other drones.
Anna Schimpp
SPD Frankfurt calls for a new election of the party leadership in the federal government
In the dispute over the future course of the SPD in the federal government, the Frankfurt Social Democrats are calling for a reorganization of the party leadership. The course for this will be set at an extraordinary federal party conference this fall, as can be seen from a resolution by the SPD sub-district. The Tagesspiegel had previously reported on it. Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil and Labor Minister Bärbel Bas currently lead the federal SPD.
“The decision on the party chairmanship should be made by a binding, nationwide member vote,” says the resolution, which was also forwarded to the federal executive board in Berlin. The current party leadership bears responsibility for the strategic and political development of the past few years. “A new political beginning is therefore only credible if it is accompanied by a new personnel structure.”
Anna Schimpp
Dispute over reform: Counterintelligence should be expanded
The black-red coalition and the Greens are convinced that the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) need more powers to ward off sabotage, espionage, terrorist attacks and cyber attacks. This became clear during the first discussion on the reform of the intelligence services in the Bundestag this Thursday.
Chancellery Minister Nina Warken (CDU) said that in the future, in addition to simply clarifying threats, it must also be possible “for servers of state hacker groups to be switched off”. The domestic policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Sebastian Fiedler, emphasized that it was not just about defending against hybrid attacks by Russia, but also about measures against Chinese espionage. The reform is also necessary to reduce the current dependence on foreign partner services.
The Green Party deputy, Konstantin von Notz, welcomed the planned reform in principle. However, he described the federal government's plans to expand the possibilities for the protection of the constitution as excessive and predicted that the coalition would be defeated if the law was reviewed by the Federal Constitutional Court. At the same time, he suggested making the BfV the “central office for counterintelligence,” since this task could not be carried out by countries like Bremen and Saarland.
In the future, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution should be allowed to secretly break into homes and access laptops and cell phones, criticized Gottfried Curio from the AfD. It is about converting the domestic secret service into a “Stasi 2.0”. The AfD, on the other hand, supports the fact that the BND should be given operational capabilities.
Clara Bünger, interior expert for the left-wing faction, said: “Basic rights are being trampled on here.” She recalled mistakes and open questions about the work of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in connection with the right-wing terrorist NSU trio. If the reform is implemented as planned, the following applies to employees of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution: “They see everything you think and feel and do and you will never find out about it.”
Responsibility for the BND lies in the Federal Chancellery, and the supervision of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution lies in the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) countered the criticism of the AfD and the Left by saying that these were “the same wrong answers from the far right and the far left”.
Bundestag is discussing possible new regulations on organ donation
The Bundestag is debating again today about a fundamental reform of organ donation. The background is that the number of organ donors in Germany is low and there is a large gap between the number of organs needed and the number of organs donated. This Thursday, a group of representatives is presenting a draft for a change to the objection regulation to the Bundestag. The draft stipulates that every adult is automatically considered an organ donor after death - unless you actively object to this. To date, express consent has been required for withdrawals.
Parliament will not vote on this draft this Thursday. The draft bill for objection regulations is supported by 254 MPs - the contra proposal is initially supported by 58 MPs. What majority will ultimately emerge in the Bundestag with its total of 630 members remains to be seen in the coming months. For the first reading there is now a debate, as is often the case with ethical questions, without the usual party lines. Next comes committee deliberations on the initiatives.
For the supporters of the objection regulation, it is already the third attempt - after a first initiative failed in the Bundestag in 2020 and a second one was no longer put to a vote due to the early election in 2025.
The group with representatives from the CDU, CSU, SPD, Left and Greens, which introduced the proposal now being discussed in the Bundestag, argues that many improvements in recent years have not led to a significant increase in the number of donations. A donation should therefore become the “norm”. In the future, organ removal from people who are of legal age and capable of consent should be permitted even if they have “not objected”. Increased information is planned. The supporters include the former health ministers Jens Spahn (CDU) and Karl Lauterbach (SPD). There is also a Bundesrat bill in the Bundestag that aims to introduce an objection regulation.
But there is also a counterproposal. “Silence should not be interpreted as consent,” is a core argument. The right to self-determination also includes not making a decision without personal consequences.
Ulrike Putz
Weber: CSU is “as clear as day” behind Merz
CSU Vice Manfred Weber calls for an end to the personnel debates about Chancellor Friedrich Merz. "He's elected, he should do his job. He has the backing. And now let's implement the reforms," said Weber on the ZDF program Markus Lanz. Regarding the debate about a chancellor swap, the MEP emphasized: “It is not up for debate.” When asked by the moderator whether the CSU was fully behind Merz, Weber replied: “It’s crystal clear to me.”
Weber warned that we should now concentrate on the upcoming reforms. Many Union voters would be alienated if we did not implement now what was agreed before the summer. Many people were waiting for something to happen now. “That’s why I think it’s right that everyone pulls together now and finally does what we promised.”
Bär sees massive security gaps at the Helmholtz Institute for Information Security
Research Minister Dorothee Bär (CSU) testified in the Bundestag Research Committee about the report of a special auditor on processes at the Helmholtz Center for Information Security (Cispa). Accordingly, the report shows “quite clearly” that “an outflow of security-relevant information was possible at any time”. The existing regulations at the institute are “not suitable” to prevent such a sensitive outflow of data.
Specifically, it is about the fact that information could have been passed on to China. This “can neither be ruled out nor confirmed,” said Bär. In the summer of this year, research by the Handelsblatt showed that Cispa boss Michael Backes employed several researchers with Chinese citizenship in security-relevant areas. Accordingly, some of them worked with the Chinese military. “Metaphorically speaking, the doors at the Research Center for Information Security were wide open,” said Bär. Bär confirmed that Cispa had worked with “risk people” from China.
Cabinet approves action plan against social fraud and exploitation
The federal government wants to take tougher action against organized abuse of social benefits and the exploitation of immigrants from other EU countries. The action plan is particularly aimed at so-called junk properties and criminal structures that take advantage of people's needs, as the package approved by the Federal Cabinet on Wednesday provides. The individual points should be implemented by the end of the year.
“We do not tolerate exploitation and abuse of social benefits,” said Labor Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD). Although Germany needs foreign skilled workers, it is unacceptable to exploit freedom of movement for organized abuse. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) added that loopholes in the welfare state were being closed. “Anyone who is wanted with an arrest warrant is not allowed to receive any social benefits.” This particularly affects legally convicted criminals who do not serve their sentence.
One focus of the plan is against the rental of run-down properties at inflated prices to welfare recipients. This is particularly a problem in North Rhine-Westphalia, where organized criminals move people from Romania or Bulgaria into apartments so that they can then receive social benefits. The money often ends up back with the criminals through rents. In the future, municipalities should be able to take action more easily with repair specifications and pre-emption rights. As a last resort, expropriation should also be possible.
In addition, the plan envisages better data exchange between authorities, including the use of AI-supported systems. The Federal Employment Agency should also receive a central competence center. In future, employers will be liable for wrongly paid social benefits if they do not register employees correctly. Those behind organized fraud should be prosecuted more consistently. In addition, information and advice services are already planned in the countries of origin to prevent exploitation.
Anna Schimpp
Green domestic politician Mihalic calls on Koçak to waive his mandate
The parliamentary manager of the Green parliamentary group, Irene Mihalic, has suggested that the left-wing MP Ferat Koçak resign from his Bundestag mandate. From their point of view, it was not enough that he temporarily did not want to take part in the meetings of the Interior Committee, said Mihalic. “Now he gets 11,833 euros a month for nothing.”
Mihalic, the former police officer and deputy member i
