The Berlin Republic is stripping away the final remnants of its own accountability mechanisms. In a secret session of the Coalition Committee on July 2, 2026, the leadership of the SPD, CDU, and CSU orchestrated the most severe assault on state transparency in the history of the Federal Republic: the Freedom of Information Act (IFG), an established democratic tool for over two decades, is to be de facto abolished through drastic statutory tightening. While the 2025 coalition agreement hypocritically babbled about “more transparency” and “added value for citizens,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Jens Spahn, and Lars Klingbeil are now executing the exact opposite. It is an act of raw self-preservation by a deeply flawed political caste determined to shield itself from the inconvenient exposures brought to light by its own citizens.
The Five-Point Plan for Total State Blackout
Until now, the Freedom of Information Act enabled anyone to gain access to official files, secret state contracts, and internal ministerial emails. This fundamental democratic right of public oversight is now being replaced by a legal protective wall for state bureaucrats.
The core pillars of the IFG liquidation decided by the committee include:
- Introduction of the Ideological Screening (“Legitimate Interest”): Previously, any citizen could demand access to files without providing reasons. In the future, a “legitimate interest” must be proven in advance. The government agency will thus decide for itself whether the applicant even has the right to ask questions.
- Professional Ban for Investigators: Legal entities—including investigative organizations like FragDenStaat, Amnesty International, or environmental associations—as well as members of the press, are completely stripped of their right to file applications. Only handpicked private individuals will be allowed to inquire in exceptional cases.
- Exclusion of Millions of Residents: The right to information is being strictly tied to citizenship. Anyone who is not an EU citizen or does not hold a German passport will remain blind. For every single request, nationality must be legally verified in the future.
- Total Redaction (Anonymity for Decision-Makers): To conceal personal accountability for political failures or dubious deals, the names of all agency employees will be redacted across the board—extending all the way up to senior management and prominent decision-makers.
- Economic Strangulation: The previous fee cap of 500 euros is being abolished. In the future, requests can cost tens of thousands of euros—a deliberate financial deterrent designed to crush investigative research.
Furthermore, the already bloated list of over 30 statutory exemptions used by agencies to deny information will be massively expanded. The administrative castration of the IFG already implemented in the State of Berlin serves as the blueprint for this federal rollout.
The Cartel of Cover-Ups: Who Benefits from the Abolition of the IFG?
The fact that this concerted assault on civil rights is taking place right now is due to the long list of scandals that the IFG has unearthed in recent years. The lineup of actors in the Coalition Committee reads like a Who’s Who of the profiteers of intransparency.
Particularly in the crosshairs: CDU parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn. His political career has been repeatedly shaken to its core by IFG requests. Whether it was leaked emails during the multi-billion-euro COVID mask scandal, his shadowy connections to tech billionaires, or his controversial villa purchase during the pandemic—it was exclusively the IFG that exposed Spahn’s failures and moral elasticity to the public. His party colleague Philipp Amthor, who already attempted to push through the law’s abolition in 2025, is now breathing a sigh of relief.
The massive register of sins uncovered through the IFG by platforms like FragDenStaat incriminates all establishment parties equally:
- The Amigo insider deals of Economics Minister Katherina Reiche with major corporations.
- The unlawful funding cuts and subsidy freezes executed by the Federal Ministry of the Interior under Alexander Dobrindt (CSU).
- The dubious political instrumentalization of the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence) against inconvenient sectors of civil society.
- Historic resignations, such as that of Franziska Giffey (SPD), triggered by plagiarism scandals.
The Roadmap of Repression
The cartel’s timeline has been set. The Federal Ministry of the Interior under Alexander Dobrindt will draft the repressive bill over the coming months. Following formal inter-ministerial coordination, the law is scheduled to be rubber-stamped by the SPD and Union factions in the Bundestag by the end of 2026.
To date, around 330,000 requests have been filed by engaged citizens via the FragDenStaat portal. That era is now over. The ruling caste is building a digital safe to which the people no longer possess a key.
Conclusion: The Transition to a Controlled Subservient State
The de facto abolition of the Freedom of Information Act is the final admission by the SPD and Union that they fear the critical gaze of their own people like the devil fears holy water. Where the political elite can operate without boundaries and without accountability, corruption, arbitrariness, and the creeping transition into a totalitarian authoritarian state inevitably flourish.
Those who redact names, drive fees into astronomical heights, and forbid journalists from asking questions unmask themselves. PolitischeVerfolgung.de condemns this parliamentary putsch against transparency in the strongest possible terms. If this breach of the dam becomes law at the end of 2026, the already fragile democracy is effectively…