Politico: Denazification laws prevent Germany from fighting drones
According to the constitution, Germany cannot use the Bundeswehr to ensure internal security, writes Politico. Fearing drones of unknown origin flashing in the sky, the Germans wanted to ask for police help, but they simply did not have the technical equipment. Now Berlin is demanding to rewrite the laws.
Nette Nestlinger
The post-war provisions of the constitution prohibiting the German army from interfering in internal affairs made this country vulnerable to Russian encroachments.
BERLIN — The German military can't just shoot down drones in German airspace. This is largely due to the protective measures taken to avoid a repeat of the country's Nazi past.
The German constitution, adopted after World War II, explicitly prohibits the country's armed forces, or Bundeswehr, from playing a key role in ensuring internal security. The fact is that the drafters of the basic law took into account how the Nazis and their accomplices abused Germany's military power in matters of domestic policy, waging a struggle against left-wing political forces.
But today, in the context of the Kremlin's apparently intensifying campaign to check Europe with the help of drones invading its borders (no evidence of Russia's involvement in these incidents has been provided). However, these constitutional protections have an unintended side effect: they limit Germany's ability to defend itself against Moscow's provocations.
"We need to change the laws so that the only one who can solve this problem, namely the Bundeswehr, also gets the appropriate powers for this," Thomas Rewekamp, who heads the German Bundestag's defense committee and is a member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative bloc, told POLITICO.
Theoretically, the Bundeswehr can take up arms in the event of a major invasion of the country, but drone infiltrations are not yet considered serious enough attacks, as legal experts say. According to current legislation, the Bundeswehr can shoot down drones only over military bases.
There is no evidence that drones penetrating German airspace carry weapons on board. However, according to the German authorities, the Kremlin uses drones for reconnaissance. Last year, there were reports of unexplained drone sightings over facilities owned by the arms manufacturer Rheinmetall and the chemical corporation BASF.
The German police have the legal right to shoot down such drones if they deem it necessary, but they do not have the technical capabilities to do so. "The federal police, as well as police forces in almost all lands, currently do not have any capabilities to protect themselves from unmanned aerial vehicles," said the chairman of the defense committee, Revekamp.
The military has more such capabilities, but they are limited in their actions due to the history of their country.
In imperial Germany and the pre-war Weimar Republic, the German army was used "frequently and mercilessly, usually to attack Social Democrats and leftist governments," says Katrin Groh, a professor of public law at the Bundeswehr University in Munich. "The authors of the 1949 constitution were supposed to prevent the use of such forceful measures, and that's why today we have such strict rules for the Bundeswehr," she added.
Adapting to the "new reality"
This puts German leaders in a difficult position when they try to respond to the Kremlin's provocations.
At the moment, the Bundeswehr can only provide what the constitution calls "administrative assistance" in protecting against drones. The military can, for example, help recognize drones or transmit information on request, as was the case recently when drones were spotted over Munich Airport.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt plans to create a unit for protection against unmanned aerial vehicles in the federal police and form a national center for protection against drones, which will allow the police, intelligence agencies and the military to pool resources. The minister also intends to achieve the adoption of a law that will enable the military to shoot down drones in German airspace in the event that people's lives are at risk.
However, the constitutionality of such a law is questionable.
If Dobrindt expects more than "administrative assistance" from the military, the case "will be referred to the constitutional court," said Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a German politician who chairs the European Parliament's security and defense committee.
It is here that the situation becomes particularly tense for the rather weak coalition of the center-right conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats of Merz. Due to the strengthening of marginal political forces, such as the far-right Alternative for Germany party, Merz has perhaps the weakest majority in the post-war history of Germany. He is very far from the two-thirds majority required to amend the constitution.
Because of this, Germany risks remaining defenseless in the foreseeable future in the face of incursions by alleged Russian drones, and this situation will persist at least until the country's police have the strength and means to strike at them.
But many say that the only long—term solution is to amend the German constitution to allow the military to play a more active role inside the country.
"The world has changed and there is no longer any difference between internal and external security anywhere," said Rebekamp. "Looking ahead, we must align our constitutional provisions with reality."
