Inconsistencies in the NSU investigations, sluggish transfer of information to authorities in other federal states. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had to listen to a lot of criticism. A general overhaul is now underway - with external help.
Schwerin (dpa/mv) - The state government of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is continuing its efforts to reorganize the state protection of the constitution, which has come under criticism. Minister of the Interior Christian level (SPD) appointed the former police officer and former head of the Lower Saxony authorities Bernhard Witthaut as special representative for the protection of the constitution in the north-east on Tuesday.
As a reaction to obvious shortcomings in the leadership and work of the authority, the SPD and the left had agreed in their coalition agreement to appoint a special representative. This should help to implement recommendations for action made by an expert commission set up almost three years ago. According to the level, she had made a total of 52 proposed changes.
"These recommendations have already been and are being implemented by the Department for the Protection of the Constitution. The task of the special representative is to now carry out an inventory analysis of the implementation status and the effectiveness of these recommendations," Level said in the evening in Schwerin. One focus is on the necessary expansion of parliamentary control rights and transparency.
The aim is to optimize the work of the authority in cooperation with the employees of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. A project group will be formed for this purpose, said level, who had previously informed the responsible members of the state parliament about the personnel.
At the latest since the investigation mishaps in the series of murders by the right-wing terrorist group National Socialist Underground (NSU) became known, the Mecklenburg-Western Pomeranian Office for the Protection of the Constitution had also come under massive criticism. Later, the accusation arose that the authorities could not have passed on information about the attack on Berlin's Breitscheidplatz in December 2016 in good time. As a result, the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution was replaced and a thorough review of the processes by external experts was ordered.
The next step follows with the appointment of Witthaut as a special representative. The 67-year-old was President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Lower Saxony until the end of October and before that he was also the Federal Chairman of the police union for a number of years. According to the level, Witthaut is expected to perform the task of special representative from January to the end of September 2023. With him, a competent expert was gained for this task.
He sees his task in further developing the protection of the constitution in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania together with the employees there. The results from the NSU reports of the parliaments, the recommendations of the expert commission and also the specialist knowledge of the employees should be incorporated. There is still a lot to work out. "The protection of the constitution must also become more transparent. This requires a rethink and a review of previous guidelines," said Witthaut. According to the level, the retired civil servant receives an expense allowance for his work.
