“The AfD is seen as a means to kick serious parties in the shins”

Buschmann also called for new priorities in the coalition to slow down the upswing of the AfD. Many potential AfD voters did not trust the party to improve the situation in the country. However, it is “seen as a suitable means of kicking serious parties in the shins”.

People wanted a rebalancing of priorities. “There are tangible fears of economic decline,” warned Buschmann.

Read the full interview with Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann here:

Minister, the Federal Constitutional Court has temporarily halted the Heating Act. Did that surprise you?
Stopping the heating law was certainly a special decision. However, special standards also apply in summary proceedings before the Federal Constitutional Court. It remains to be seen how the court will ultimately decide on the matter. In any case, it is not dramatic that the Bundestag will only decide on the law after the summer break. Because the law was objectively not urgent. It will only really take effect when municipal heat planning has been implemented. This will take a while.

Why should the law then be passed in an expedited procedure if it was not urgent?
Parliament made this decision. This was in line with the wishes of part of the coalition. In principle, the Bundestag also needs very fast legislative procedures. Even democracies must be able to act quickly and decisively. We have seen this with the legislation on the injection of liquefied gas. It was important that Parliament was able to act in the shortest possible time.

But Bundestag President Bärbel Bas warned in March that too many urgent procedures could damage democracy. Associations and trade unions also complain time and again that the deadlines for hearings in legislative processes are too short. Then how can this happen?
As a member of the federal government, I cannot judge the parliamentary processes. But as the federal government, we are of course also involved in the legislative process. Here we have to go back to normal mode after all the crisis legislation. First we had to deal with the corona pandemic, then there was the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. This was followed by the energy crisis and high inflation. We had to react quickly and decisively to all these things. But this crisis mode must not be allowed to become a part of the legislative process.

What does that mean specifically?
Sufficient deadlines ultimately serve to ensure quality. For example, I did an evaluation for the last year of how little time we were given here at the Justice Department to conduct our legal reviews. We sampled 261 procedures and found that in 40 percent of the cases other departments gave us deadlines of 24 hours or less. So it’s no wonder that we occasionally take this as a reason for criticism.

>> Read here: Uncertainty due to the debate about the heating law – industries warn of burglary in building renovation

The traffic light recently sank into permanent dispute not only because of the heating law. Now the AfD is in the polls at 20 percent. What part does the divided coalition have in this?
Some blame the traffic light. Do say that the CDU is contributing to the rise of the AfD. I find both a bit immature. When serious Democrats fall out over a populist challenge, you’re playing the populist game. My analysis is different.

Namely?
According to the research, two out of three potential AfD voters do not believe that this party is capable of improving the situation in the country. You even know that the AfD is a location risk. However, it is seen as a suitable means of kicking serious parties in the shins. The message: “We would like to see a rebalancing of priorities.” There are tangible fears of economic decline. No one can take it for granted that our prosperity is secured once and for all.

What follows?
Quite simply: we should do everything that makes our country economically stronger again, but that costs us substance, not. The investment climate must improve and the location must become more competitive. People need to see that it’s worth tackling things here again. Such confidence in a future of growth and prosperity eliminates fear – it is the best antidote to right-wing populism.

That’s all?
The issue of migration continues to concern many people. Most citizens find it good when people come to us who work and contribute to the prosperity of the country. Our economy even depends on it. But they don’t think it’s a good thing if we had regulations that would enable systematic immigration to use social security systems.

This statement is not populism, but the power of reason.

>> Read here: Concern about Germany as a location – desperately looking for an anti-AfD strategy

If you have a well-developed welfare state, then you also have to control who is allowed to immigrate. Otherwise the system may be overwhelmed. We will ensure this with changes in migration law and are working accordingly on European asylum law. More order and clear rules, which we then enforce, is the best way to dry out the breeding ground for populism.

In the past few weeks, Federal President Steinmeier has invited the leaders of the governing parties to Bellevue Palace. He calls for the upheaval in energy policy to be managed in such a way that the cohesion of the population is maintained. Do you see the problem?
The Federal President expresses a correct and important thought. We cannot make politics against the social majority. If we notice that we are perhaps proceeding too quickly, too briskly or too much at certain points, then it’s good to pause for a moment and maybe even make improvements. Our claim and our goal must be to make a policy that we can convince a majority of.

Is that currently the case with the Heating Act?
We experienced that the people at the GEG were worried about being overwhelmed financially. Fear grew: “Now the state is forcing me to rip out and change the heating in winter.” Especially the owners of normal, owner-occupied properties feared for their savings – and sometimes for their life’s work. It was therefore necessary, indeed inevitable, for the law to be turned upside down in Parliament.

>> Read here: A speed limit would save almost as much CO2 as the heating law – a comment

Are the parties not taking the citizens’ fears and resentment seriously enough?
Many citizens worry whether Germany will still be an economically strong and rich country in a few years’ time, offering them opportunities to lead a fulfilled and prosperous life themselves. We must therefore make it clear that we are fighting to ensure that Germany remains a prosperous country in the future.

As Minister of Justice, how can you advance Germany as a business location?
Even if the Minister of Justice is not the first person responsible for economic development, it was important to me that we develop ambition: We have contributed a lot to speed up planning, with our own laws, but also by advising other ministries.

We are driving the digitization of the judiciary together with the federal states and will set up new commercial courts. Together with the Federal Ministry of Finance, we are getting a future financing law off the ground. We are now coordinating the Bureaucracy Relief Act. When the entire government prioritizes growth and prosperity, more people will rally behind us.

>> Read here: The administrative madness from A to Z – and what helps against it

So the coalition is focusing on economic policy?
At least that’s what I recommend as a coalition. Because I think that would be appropriate for the situation. We are noticing that investment activity is coming under pressure. We have a technical recession. In such a situation, it is advisable not to ignore the facts. We should respond with policies that ensure future growth and prosperity. That is what the second half of our legislature must be about.

When does the bureaucracy reduction start?
We’ve been there for a long time: First, we surveyed business and associations. They sent us over 440 concrete suggestions. We cannot implement everything, for example because some of them relate to European law, from which we cannot deviate. We are now working on drawing up the cornerstones for the Bureaucracy Relief Act IV, which we will present in the summer.

After the first three relief laws, the umbrella organizations of the German economy complained that the effect was hardly noticeable in business practice. Does Germany need more than just small-small?
You have to solve a problem the way it was created. Entrepreneurs report many small encroachments in everyday life, which they perceive as micromanagement by politicians. This gives them the feeling of being tied up. They don’t wear a thick handcuff that can be loosened once. Like Gulliver, you are paralyzed by many small threads. And that’s why we first have to cut through these many small threads and then make sure that not many new ones emerge.
Mr. Buschmann, thank you very much for the interview.

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