Germany considers tougher anti-terror laws

UPI
Dec. 17, 2005

BERLIN -- Germany's Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said he wants to toughen the country's anti-terror laws.

In an interview with German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung published Friday, Schaeuble, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, said the current legal situation in the fight against terror was "unsatisfactory." Schaeuble added he would prefer to prosecute Islamist extremists before they can commit crimes on German soil.

"We want to see whether we can amend the law in a way that allows us to act against people who are close to terrorist networks," he told the newspaper. "We could, for example, punish those who have undergone training in terrorist camps in Afghanistan or elsewhere."

For the FIFA World Cup finals, which are held in Germany next summer, Schaeuble plans to beef up security.

"During the World Cup, for example, our federal and state police forces will be very stretched," Schaeuble told the newspaper. "Why shouldn't we transfer security services temporarily to the armed forces from the police to relieve them?"

The German constitution, written in 1949, establishes strict separation between police and military because the Nazis had blurred that separation, leading to a ruthless police state. The German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, cannot be deployed domestically.

Schaeuble said he considered changing the constitution, which would need a two-thirds majority in parliament.