The situation on Friday: Because of Christmas peace

Today we are dealing with conflict issues of the GroKo, which the Christmas peace covers. We are considering a controversial arms law and expect the exit agreement from the EU to finally pass through the British Parliament.

The Chinese dilemma

Paul Zinken / DPA

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Issue 51/2019

Yes, he can

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It is probably because of the candles and Christmas trees that flash and blink all over the government district, perhaps also because of the exhaustion that is slowly spreading after a troubled political year. In any case, yesterday's coalition committee, in which the new SPD party leaders Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans took part for the first time, was very friendly and harmonious. There is no trace of the desire to engage in the conflict, and certainly not of an imminent end to the grand coalition. The Advent mood should not hide the fact that there are a lot of topics where the conflict lies, two of which are discussed in the Bundestag today.

On the one hand, there are armed drones and the question of whether the Bundeswehr should use them to protect their soldiers. Applications from the FDP and AfD are in favor of this, the left would like to outlaw the aircraft. It will be exciting to see how the Union and the SPD behave. Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer is known to be a drone. Rolf Mützenich, the leader of the SPD parliamentary group, spoke out against combat drones six years ago in a "forward" article. A new topic, a new conflict , but really debated, will probably not be until next year.

Secondly, the MPs want to talk about cyber security , it is the cipher for the permanent topic Huawei and the question of whether the Chinese manufacturer should be involved in the expansion of the 5G mobile communications standard. The German government wants to make this possible because Huawei is said to be able to deliver the fastest and cheapest, but above all because an embargo could anger China, its important trading partner.

But in the government parties, more and more MPs are having problems with it, fearing espionage and sabotage and being too dependent on an unpredictable country.

A group of CDU MPs brought an application to the party convention that practically excluded Huawei (and other Chinese providers such as ZTE). The application passed the vote in a softer version. Last week, the SPD then submitted a position paper that was also written more sharply than all previous positions. Today, the FDP, AfD and Greens present their applications for cyber security.

But the crucial question is: How does the German government want to free itself from its Chinese dilemma? The answer is no longer available this year.

• A little peace: The GroKo in the Christmas spirit

The power of lobbyists

dpa

I was recently in Berlin-Spandau in an arms shop that Katja Triebel runs. Ms. Triebel calls herself a civil rights activist and is part of the team of the German Rifle Association , which is committed to "promoting shooting sports". There is a chapter on the organization's homepage called "Opponents". The gun lobbyists can quickly mobilize against their opponents.

The other day, it was time again. The Federal Minister of the Interior had submitted a draft for the implementation of a European Union firearms directive that would make access to heavy weapons more difficult. In addition, a separate proposal in response to the right-wing extremist attack in Halle. It was about a ban on large magazines, a stricter check of whether shooters are still using their weapons, and a regular check with the protection of the constitution before a weapon permit is issued.

Katja Triebel explained to me why she saw this as criminalizing the scene and why so much bureaucracy could not be expected from hobby shooters. She also explained how she resisted it.

She had sat down at the computer and designed a postcard. The addressees were the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the specialist politicians of the grand coalition. A black, red and gold painted hand could be seen covering two weapons, followed by the saying: "BMI hits the wrong targets. Say no to the gun rights change!"

Their call spread quickly on the Internet, in social media, shooting associations printed the template a thousand times. It wasn't the only campaign. Seldom has a government project provoked so much protest among interest groups, and the politicians in the Bundestag have received numerous letters and emails.

But the aggressive campaign of the gun lobby was ultimately successful: some measures in the law were significantly mitigated. Katja Triebel is still dissatisfied. Monkeys can now be seen on the GRA homepage, alongside the term "monkey laws".

Regardless of the ongoing protests, the Federal Council is likely to approve the Monkey Law today under agenda item 41.

• Multimedia documentation on the new weapons law: German arms madness

Boris is serious

REUTERS

Today the British House of Commons will vote on the exit agreement with the EU, Boris Johnson can rely on a solid majority. So it's getting serious. UK membership could end on January 31, 2020. And finally an infinite exit odyssey. Will we feel phantom pain?

My colleagues Melanie Amann and Christian Reiermann asked a German cabinet member what the early exit would mean for Germany and Europe. You can read the interview tonight from 6 p.m. in digital or from tomorrow in printed SPIEGEL.

• British historian Robert Saunders on the British: why so many of his countrymen voted for Brexit

The loser of the day ...

Pavel Golovkin / DPA

... I am myself. In yesterday's "Situation" I bet that at Vladimir Putin's annual press conference no German reporter would be selected to ask a question. I lost the bet.

My colleague Christian Esch, Russia correspondent for SPIEGEL, was sitting in the front row and it was my turn. And he even elicited a correction from the Russian president. It was about the murder of the Georgian Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in the Little Tiergarten in Berlin, in which state agencies from Russia or Chechnya may have been involved (which the Russian President of course rejects).

Putin recently claimed that Russia "repeatedly" requested extradition of Khangoshvili, whom the Russian authorities consider to be a terrorist. The German authorities had objected to receiving extradition requests. "There was really no official inquiry about the public prosecutor's office," Putin said when asked by Esch, "because our competent authorities saw no sense in it."

At the same time, Putin repeated the allegations against Khangoshvili. "Such bandits walk through Berlin. If fighters from Syrian prisons come to you in the future, will you let them walk on the streets?" The press conference revealed no new findings as to whether Russian secret services were involved in the murder.

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I wish you a stress-free Friday!

warmly
Yours Martin Knobbe