Wikileaks concerning famous Passauer EXKLUSIV oder Wer ist jetzt wirklich der wichtigste Mann im Dorf?

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MUNICH 000273

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CE, DEPT ALSO FOR EUR/ERA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/04/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL EUN GM
SUBJECT: GERMAN ELECTIONS: BAVARIA WINS BIG INFLUENCE IN THE NEW GERMAN GOVERNMENT

REF: BERLIN 1340

Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL CONRAD TRIBBLE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)

SUMMARY
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(...)

(SBU) As for the Cabinet, in addition to zu Guttenberg at
Defense, there is Peter Ramsauer heading the Transportation
Ministry, where he will have national influence and a huge
budget. Ilse Aigner (CSU) remains Minister of Agriculture.
Five of the the parliamentarian State Secretaries are
Bavarian, four from the CSU r and one from the FDP. This
gives the CSU and Bavaria generally important influence at
the sub-Cabinet level and sets up influential and direct
Bavarian connections between the Bundestag and Cabinet. In
the Defense Ministry, well-respected Christian Schmidt
retained his position, as did Gerd Mueller in Agriculture.
Hartmut Koschyk moves to the Finance Ministry, providing the
CSU with important direct influence with Minister Schaeuble.
The 35-year old Andreas Scheuer from Passau will assist Peter
Ramsauer at the Transportation Ministry. The fifth Bavarian
is Max Stadler (FDP), who will support Sabine
Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (FDP) at the Justice Ministry. A
well-respected lawyer from Passau, Stadler is an excellent
choice and a real legal expert with American experience as a
1993 International Visitor Program alumnus.


C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BERLIN 001167

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR, L, S/CT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/17/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER KJUS KHLS GM
SUBJECT: DATA PRIVACY TRUMPS SECURITY: IMPLICATIONS OF A
FDP VICTORY ON COUNTERTERRORISM COOPERATION

(...)

(C) FDP parliamentarians and party leaders were strong
critics of the CDU/CSU - SPD government's introduction of two
new counterterrorism legislative proposals, the BKA Law and
the Terror Camp Law. Passed in 2008 and enacted at the
beginning of 2009, the BKA Law increased the investigative
powers of the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA).
The most controversial aspect of the BKA Law was that it
permitted security officials to use a variety of technical
surveillance measures in terrorism investigations (Ref B).
Specifically, the law provides the BKA with the power to
conduct remote, on-line investigations of the computers of
terrorism and serious crime suspects. The FDP strongly
opposed these measures as an unnecessary invasion of privacy,
despite the limitation of on-line searches to only
life-threatening situations (or threats to the constitutional
order of the German state). These cases would require a
judge's advance approval and are expected to number just a
dozen cases per year. Nevertheless, FDP parliamentarian Max
Stadler called the measures "constitutionally questionable,"
and in a meeting with EMIN, Stadler feared that authorities
would carry out surveillance without sufficient evidence of
wrongdoing. FDP parliamentarian Gisela Piltz warned that the
law would turn the BKA into a "super spy agency resembling
the FBI." Former FDP Federal Interior Minister, Gerhart
Baum, blasted the law, saying it violated privacy rights,
freedom of the press, and the inviolability of private
residences.