Latest news with #US-Germany
Local Germany
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Local Germany
FACT CHECK: Is it fair to say that Germany doesn't have a right to free speech?
US Vice President JD Vance effectively reconfigured the US-Germany relationship last week when he spoke at the Munich Security Conference. His speech took a shocking turn when he said that Europe's biggest enemy was 'the threat from within," suggesting that unnecessary regulations and censorship were a bigger threat than Russian military aggression. Vance claimed that free speech was 'in retreat' in Europe. Then he reiterated his point on Monday in response to an interview by US broadcaster CBS with prosecutors from Germany's Central Office for Combating Hate Crime on the Internet (ZHIN). Vance shared a clip of the prosecutors explaining that insulting someone or spreading malicious gossip and threats on the internet can be a crime in Germany. On X, Vance wrote that the policy was "Orwellian' and should be rejected. Insulting someone is not a crime, and criminalizing speech is going to put real strain on European-US relationships. This is Orwellian, and everyone in Europe and the US must reject this lunacy. — JD Vance (@JDVance) February 17, 2025 Interestingly, contrary to the US Vice President's claims, the compiled by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project, with a score that was slightly higher than the US (ranked 17th) as of 2023. So what are the rules around freedom of speech in Germany? 'There shall be no censorship' It's generally understood that freedom of speech is valued and protected in Germany. German Basic Law (Grundgesetz) clearly says as much in Article 5 (paragraph 1): 'Every person shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinions in speech, writing and pictures…There shall be no censorship.' Although the next line adds that these rights have 'limits' which are spelled out in further laws, and 'in provisions for the protection of young persons and in the right to personal honour'. Hate speech is a crime One notable limit to free speech in Germany is anything considered hate speech. Hateful speech that targets specific groups of people (especially based on their race, ethnicity or religion) or which glorifies the Holocaust, or denies the fact that it happened, is considered incitement to hatred (Volksverhetzung) and is punishable. As Sonja Eichwede, a legal policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, previously told The Local, this extends to using 'slogans of anti-constitutional organisations, [or] calling for or condoning criminal acts against certain groups of people'. For this reason, regional far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Björn Höcke has been charged and fined for using Nazi party slogans in his speeches. While these rules put a certain limit on free speech, they are generally understood to be necessary in Germany, given the historical events which ultimately led to the Holocaust when hateful speech and propaganda was used to incite hatred and then violence against Jewish people and other minorities. Sections 86 and 86a of Germany's penal code ban online or offline distribution of 'flags, insignia, uniforms, slogans and forms of greeting' that belong to known anti-constitutional groups – which is why doing a Nazi salute is a punishable offence in the Bundesrepublik. As German prosecutors explained in their interview with CBS, in some cases people are surprised to learn that their comments online are criminal. Publicly insulting someone online, as well as spreading malicious gossip, violent threats and fake quotes can all be prosecuted in Germany. Repeat offenders could potentially face jail time, but in most cases judges apply fines or confiscate electronic devices like smartphones as a punishment. These protections were tightened after the murder of Walter Lübcke, a politician with the centre-right Christian Democrats who had become the victim of a barrage of hate speech when he publicly defended then-Chancellor Angela Merkel's immigration policies. Germany has since ramped up task forces to crack down on internet hate speech. There are 16 units across the country, some of which investigate thousands of cases each year. Watchdog groups warn that Germany censors certain acts of protest Criticism of how Germany enforces its limits to freedom of expression doesn't only come from right-wing perspectives. Amidst ongoing protests against Israel's attacks in Gaza, pro-Palestine activists have complained that Germany is unfairly prosecuting certain speech and expression. For example, the Düsseldorf Administrative Court upheld a ban on the phrase "From the river to the sea". Some German authorities have argued that the phrase qualifies as incitement to hatred (against Israel), whereas pro-Palestine protestors contend that the phrase is a call for the liberation of an oppressed people. Watchdog group CIVICUS warned at the end of 2023 that the German government was failing to 'protect its citizens' freedoms of expression'. A report by CIVICUS Monitor cited disproportionate measures used against pro-Palestine protestors and the climate justice group Last Generation in particular. Is the US really a bastion of free speech? US law also contains some basic limits to free speech, such as slander and libel laws that are aimed at preventing individuals from saying or writing false defamatory statements. But it lacks the more robust protections against hate speech, aloud or online, that Germany has enshrined. Free speech maximalists argue that the right to say anything – good, bad or ugly as it may be – should be staunchly protected. And the US is often held up as an example of a country that maintains this unfettered freedom of expression. The Trump administration, however, has already made some efforts to silence or suppress certain speech. On the same day that Vice President Vance chastised Europe for what he saw as unfair censorship, the and Air Force One because the AP decided not to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the 'Gulf of America' as Trump has declared it should be called.
Local Germany
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Local Germany
EXPLAINED: How the US is turning away from its ally Germany
US Vice President JD Vance shook German officials when he spoke at the Munich Security Conference last Friday – voicing support for Germany's far-right AfD, and announcing the Trump administration's intention to pull military troops out of Europe. Initial reports from the conference described German and European leaders as being shocked or even distraught after hearing's Vance's provocative speech. Since then, the general consensus among observers is that the speech revealed clearly that the US is turning away from its European allies, and is instead leaning toward Russia's Vladimir Putin. What is the Trump administration saying? German leaders have been waiting to see exactly what Donald Trump's administration would mean for US-Germany relations, and the Vice President's speech at the Munich Security Conference seems to have finally made it all clear. Speaking about a potential peace deal for Ukraine, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth turned heads on Thursday when he said that a return to Ukraine's pre-war borders was 'unrealistic'. He also ruled out Ukraine joining NATO. Hegseth's comments were criticised, even by a high-level Republican defence expert, and he walked them back. So European leaders were keen to hear Vice President JD Vance speak on Friday, expecting him to clarify what the US would or would not be open to regarding negotiations for peace in Ukraine. But Vance only muddied the waters further when he avoided talking about Ukraine and instead criticised what he saw as Europe's 'threat from within'. US Vice President JD Vance (R) sits across from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) on the sidelines of the 61st Munich Security Conference (MSC) on February 14, 2025. (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP) In a long-winded speech, Vance chastised what he saw as censorship within Europe's democracies, and also downplayed Russian election interference. 'If your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn't very strong to begin with,' Vance said addressing claims that Russia had recently manipulated elections in Romania. Regarding European defence, Vance made clear that the US intended to withdraw its support on the continent: 'we think it's an important part of being in a shared alliance together, that the Europeans step up while America focuses on [other] areas of the world...' Vance also voiced support for Germany's far-right AfD party, saying democracy has 'no room for firewalls'. He also met with AfD leader Alice Weidel on Friday, and called on German parties to cooperate with the far-right party. How have German leaders reacted? Speaking shortly after the US Vice President, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius was among the first to respond to Vance's stunning barrage. "This democracy was just called into question by the US Vice President," Pistorius said. He added that comparing European democracies to what happens in authoritarian regimes 'is not acceptable'. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and reasserted that in German politics there is "no cooperation with the extreme right". Scholz was joined by his rival, Friedrich Merz who said, "I will not allow an American vice president to tell me who I can talk to here in Germany," and added that he would 'not tolerate such inference' in the German elections or in the following coalition talks. EU leaders also responded with alarm. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on X that "Europe's security is at a turning point…' and that the turn of events showed the need for more urgency and defence efforts in Europe. What does it mean for Ukraine, Germany and Europe? This week, a US delegation plans to meet high-ranking Russian representatives in Saudi Arabia to explore the possibilities of ending the war of aggression against Ukraine. But this looks set to be done over the heads of European leaders, and also without any representation from Ukraine. Most EU leaders and those in Ukraine say Kyiv ultimately needs to agree to any terms if a worthwhile and lasting peace deal is to be sealed. But with the Trump administration apparently more interested in appeasing Putin than in continuing to support Ukraine, Kyiv looks to be in a markedly weak negotiating position. Furthermore, with the US planning to pull military support away from the region, some fear an emboldened Russia could provoke a new conflict in the future, even by attacking a NATO country. Last year German Defence Minister Pistorius warned about what Putin could do next. "We hear threats from the Kremlin almost every day ... so we have to take into account that Vladimir Putin might even attack a NATO country one day," Pistorius told German newspaper Tagesspiegel. More recently Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky warned that "Putin will wage war against NATO." Understandably, the US's apparent shift in allegiance seems to have jolted Europe into action. Heads of government from Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain, as well as the heads of the European Council, the European Commission and NATO are meeting in Paris today to discuss Europe's defence. It could be that Europe gets serious about its own defence going forward, ultimately reducing its reliance on the US. But how quickly or effectively that can happen remains to be seen.
