Germany's conservative bloc CDU/CSU, which won yesterday's national election, wants to bundle digital responsibilities within one new ministry. But it's yet to be seen if those plans can really lead to a stronger and more united German voice in digital policy making. Industry specialists say that Germany needs to move forward on making its public sector more digital, while at the EU level Germany's voice is key, especially on legislation concerning child sexual abuse material.
Big Tech could see Germany establish a ministry dedicated solely to digital issues in an effort to cut red tape and simplify regulation, following the conservative victory in yesterday's national elections.The Christian Democratic Union, along with its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union, won 208 seats in the 630-seat lower house of parliament, according to official data. The CDU's leader, Friedrich Merz, will become Germany's next Chancellor. But since the CDU-CSU alliance didn't receive a majority, it's going to need to work with another party to form government.
The far-right Alternative for Germany, known as AfD, came in second with 152 seats, but is considered too extreme for mainstream parties to work with. This leaves the CDU-CSU likely to work with the Social Democrats and perhaps the Greens, who won 120 and 85 seats respectively.
While the parties have different approaches on how to regulate the digital space, they do agree that the new government will need to focus on reducing bureaucracy, and that a digital ministry may be the best way to write regulation and simplify enforcement requirements.
The European Commission said in a report last year that Germany “is still facing important challenges,” such as in the digitalization of public services. A committee of representatives from business, science and civil society overseeing the implementation of the national digital strategy also criticized the previous government's progress last year.
— Restructuring —
The CDU wants a single ministry to be responsible for infrastructure, data policy, artificial intelligence, online platforms and digital services, administrative digitalization and initiatives to modernize government.
“To achieve this, we are establishing a Federal Digital Ministry,*” the party program reads.
Bitkom, an industry association representing more than 2,000 companies in the telecoms and information technology sector, supports the plan.
Digital issues haven't been at the top of the legislative agenda previously as they were under the purview of the transport minister, Sophie Vogt-Hohenlinde, Bitkom's head of public affairs team told MLex.
The association also calls for a “digital check,” where a digital ministry should ensure any proposed laws be digitally suitable.
— The German vote —
A unified ministry could also help Germany speak with one voice on digital issues, which has been a challenge due to the fractured politics and the devolved nature of regulation that gives power to the regions.
In the case of the EU’s AI Act, former digital and transport minister Volker Wissing from the Liberals held a different position on the file than the Social Democrats and the Greens, who formed the coalition in the previous government. This complicated Germany’s ability to come to a position on the law (see here).
But some have doubts that a digital ministry will change Germany’s record of indecisiveness and lack of leadership on digital issues.
“The hope would be that a digital ministry would bring new political guidance, but it would not automatically solve all the problems we have in Germany when it comes to digital issues,” Kai Dittmann, head of policy at the civil society organization Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte told MLex.
Svea Windwehr, co-chair of the digital policy NGO D64, told MLex that "the main question regarding a digital policy ministry is not so much one of concrete design, but how we anchor digital policy as a central topic of societal relevance in the political discourse."
"Digital policy shouldn't just be seen as a specialist field, but as a horizontal issue affecting all areas of society, and there is currently a lack of political understanding on this," Windwehr added.
There are also concerns about how such a ministry would be structured, and whether digital regulation will focus solely on the economic aspect or also consider social elements.
“A dedicated ministry could be helpful in streamlining digital policy, but we don't yet know how it will be structured,” Elisa Lindinger, co-founder and co-director of Superrr, a research and advocacy organization dedicated to promoting the ethical use of technology, told MLex.
She is also concerned about the lack of qualified staff to handle digital laws, fearing that a single ministry "could lead to a brain drain from one authority to another."
— Regulatory to-do list —
The next digital minister will have a long to-do list of drafting regulation, implementing EU laws, such as the AI Act and the Digital Services Act, as well as enforcing existing policies that regulate the sector. On top of that, the most pressing issue will be the digitalization of public administration, which hasn't been a priority for previous governments, Vogt-Hohenlinde of Bitkom said.
"It may not be among the vote-winning topics, but it is absolutely essential," she added.
At the EU level, Germany could also reverse its current opposition to the regulation combatting child sexual abuse material, that has been heavily criticized for surveillance reasons (see here and here).
Germany will also have to adopt and implement the cybersecurity directive NIS2, which got delayed due to the snap elections (see here).
Though the future composition of the government isn't yet known, the CDU/CSU's victory suggests that through the establishment of a single digital ministry, the country might be moving digital issues more to the forefront, which would have ramifications at both the EU and national level.
* All quotes are MLex’s translation from the original German.
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