(LifeSiteNews) — A draft bill by the German government would introduce a law preventing people with “extremist” views from buying a house.
The draft bill from the Ministry of Construction, led by Verena Hubertz from the Social Democrats (SPD), would give municipalities the right of first refusal if a potential buyer of property has “anti-constitutional aspirations.”
German news outlet NIUS reports that individuals whose views are deemed dangerous by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency) could be prevented from purchasing homes.
According to the draft, the building law change is intended to contribute to “strengthening the focus on the common good” and “preventing social ills.” To this end, the government says it aims to prevent the “spatial impact of organized crime as well as right-wing, left-wing, or religiously motivated extremist activities.”
Municipalities will be granted the right to request information from BfV and the Federal Criminal Police Office regarding a potential buyer if there is suspicion of “anti-constitutional activities” and to obtain a right of first refusal – that is, to purchase the property themselves – if there is sufficient grounds for suspicion.
The bill refers to right-wing “extremists” who cannot be fought solely by “civil society initiatives.”
The proposed legislation states: “They have long been well-documented as a right-wing extremist strategy for gaining a foothold in communities. Prominent examples have been, and continue to be, Dortmund-Dorstfeld and the village of Jamel. Their dominance in these areas is no coincidence, but part of a far-right strategy. Guidelines on preventing far-right extremism consistently emphasize the importance of involving and mobilizing the local population. However, at a certain point, civil society initiatives can no longer provide a sufficient counterbalance, which can further promote the segregation of the resident population.”
While the regions named by law are, at least partly, inhabited by Neo-Nazis, the law could also affect people who have conservative or anti-establishment views, as the BfV is famously left-wing and currently surveils many prominent conservative figures and brands them as “right-right extremists.” This especially applies to many politicians of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and many people associated with them.
The bill explicitly does not concern potential buyers who have committed or are planning to commit criminal offenses. A mere suspicion of “anti-constitutional activities” is sufficient. According to the draft law, these activities are “characterized by active, though not necessarily militant, aggressive, or illegal, efforts to achieve their goals. They must be objectively capable of having political effects sooner or later.”
The potential home buyer need not have done anything illegal. Rather, it is sufficient if the BfV has the impression that the alleged anti-constitutional activities could have a “political impact” in the long term.
Under the bill, the municipality is to be granted a right of first refusal when purchasing land if the “socially stable residential structure” or “the suitability of the area to meet the social and cultural needs of the population” is threatened by “efforts within the meaning of Section 3 of the Federal Constitution Protection Act, in particular against the free democratic basic order, provided that facts justify the assumption that the buyer strongly supports the realization of these efforts.”
In order to buy the property before the potential “extremist” can, the municipality needs personal data from the BfV, which is why the law would allow the secret service to share that data with municipalities for this purpose. Critics have said that this measure shows it is part of an effort to enlarge the “surveillance state.”
NIUS columnist Alexander Kissler condemned the draft bill: “This entire draft bill is intolerable. If it passes, liberal democracy will have hardly anything left to say.”
In Germany, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is not independent but bound by directives of the interior minister of the current government, which has increasingly led to surveillance and suppression of the opposition, especially the AfD, in recent years.