20260511 Buchhändler waren keine "Extremisten"

Stop the Haber-Verfahren

“For two decades, the federal government has had democracy projects vetted by the intelligence service,” writes FragdenStaat.de on its website regarding the so-called Haber-Verfahren. Since it is generally difficult to shed light on the background and machinations of intelligence matters, this went on for a long time without any oversight. There was even a legal basis for the Haber proceedings. Now, Minister of State for Culture Weimer has gone too far by excluding bookstores from the German Book Trade Prize.

The counter-legal protection from FragdenStaat.de has won a victory before the Berlin Administrative Court. In addition, the Cologne Administrative Court must determine whether the transfer of data to the intelligence service violated the right to informational self-determination. FragdenStaat writes to us about the proceedings:

Hello Dr. Rainer!
When politicians or government agencies blindly rely on intelligence reports, it poses a threat to our democracy. For over 20 years, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has been systematically scrutinizing civil society initiatives on behalf of the federal government. We regularly expose such abuses and question the legality of such procedures, as in the case of Wolfram Weimer. The Minister of State for Culture excluded certain bookstores from the German Bookstore Award based on “findings relevant to the protection of the constitution” and, on this basis, publicly labeled them “political extremists.”

Yet this political stigmatization lacks any basis, as the Berlin Administrative Court has now ruled: Weimer was prohibited from publicly labeling the operators of the bookstore “Zur Schwankenden Weltkugel” as “extremists.” He was unable to provide any evidence for his statement. We have published and analyzed the court ruling. (see link below)

This was not an isolated case: Under the so-called “Haber procedure,” federal ministries have reportedly had over 3,500 civil society organizations and individuals vetted since 2017. There is no legal basis for this procedure. In many cases, however, these assessments may have led to the loss of funding. Many of those affected are not even aware that they were vetted. Anyone who fears a review by the intelligence service can request information via our sample requests.

Under the Merz government, intelligence service reviews are being used as a weapon against social engagement deemed “too left-wing.” Almost all inquiries from 2025 originate from the CSU-led Ministry of the Interior. For Family Minister Prien, too, the Haber procedure is an important tool for vetting organizations in the “Demokratie Leben!” funding program. Due to the restructuring of the program, hundreds of civil society organizations are losing their funding.

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