Germany’s domestic spy agency called the country’s authorities give it more powers to monitor financial flows amid growing concerns about potential Russian funding of regional far-right parties before the European Parliament elections, reports Reuters.
Although Germany’s interior ministry said in February that it was working on adapting existing legislation to that effect, the issue took on new urgency after an announcement that an MP from the far-right Alternative for Germany party received money from a pro-Russian news portal.
“I hope to have more powers” to monitor financial developments, the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, Thomas Haldenwang, told a news conference.
“This will affect all areas (of security), because the effectiveness of the actions of the protagonists depends, of course, on how many funds they have, but we are particularly interested in financial flows in the right-wing extremist spectrum.”
Germany’s security agencies have been hampered by bureaucratic roadblocks in part because of the country’s totalitarian East German past and a resulting wariness of state encroachment on personal privacy, critics, including former officials, say.
Germany accuses military of spying for Russia
The nature of the information he tried to pass on to Moscow was not specified.
Two former heads of the foreign intelligence agency said last year that Germany’s security apparatus was degenerating into a “toothless, muzzled, iron-chained watchdog”.
As security threats mount after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and amid growing Chinese rivalry, they and others say it’s time to address those restrictions and give spy agencies more power to do their jobs.
Haldenwang’s plea came the same day three Germans were arrested on suspicion of working with Chinese intelligence to transfer technology that could be used for military purposes.
“(Other agencies) are using the most advanced communication methods with the most advanced encryption technology, and we need to be able to operate at the same level as our counterparts,” Haldenwang said.
“It is up to legislators to find the right balance between guaranteeing freedom on the one hand and security on the other.
Updated
Germany arrests two men plotting military sabotage on behalf of Russia
Their actions were aimed at undermining the military support provided by Germany to Ukraine
