Germany · de.indymedia · · 2h
Freedom of information in Brandenburg: The mockery of transparency
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Symbolbild · Leonhard Lenz / CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Brandenburg's Interior Minister wants to restrict freedom of information even further than previously known. The way he explains this mocks basic democratic principles. A comment.
Brandenburg was a pioneering state when it came to freedom of information. The fact that people have the right to inspect files and access information from state and local authorities has constitutional status there. It is under Article 21, thehttps://bravors.brandenburg.de/de/gesetze-212792#21">“Right to participate in politics”. It was the first German state to create its own law for this: the File Inspection and Access to Information Act (AIG) of 1998.
But Brandenburg's pioneering spirit in state transparency has passed. The Ministry of the Interior there announced in July that it would take part in onehttps://netzpolitik.org/2026/schutz-kritiker-architektur-auch-brande...restriction of freedom of informationto work. It followed the trend from other federal states and the federal government and justified it with the protection of critical infrastructure.
It's as if you could make power plants and high-voltage lines invisible to saboteurs if you just squeezed the file cover tight enough. It's as if extremists depend on an administrative official to get them information from the file archive, which they then have to wait for months for despite repeated reminders. It's as if highly professional actors in particular couldn't hack together the information more easily or obtain information in any other way. And as if keeping a cable route secret would protect us from a transformer bursting into flames due to a technical defect.
No more questions to the police
But that's apparently not enough. At a freedom of information conference on Monday, of all places, Jan Redmann (CDU), who moved to the Interior Ministry after the failure of the government coalition of SPD and BSW, made it clear that this is not the end yet. Inquiries about the AIG to the police should be easy in the futurehttps://www.rbb24.de/politik/teil/2026/09/brandenburg-informationsfre...more possiblebe.
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The hut is on fire! We're going in.
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That means: The Interior Minister wants to remove the state institution that exercises the monopoly of violence from public control. The reasoning is a mockery of everyone who uses this right to information: “90 percent of inquiries to the police are already rejected because they involve sensitive information,” it is saidhttps://www.rbb24.de/politik/teil/2026/09/brandenburg-informationsfre...rbb24. But the police have to formulate a refusal. “In view of this, it would make more sense if no questions were asked about the police at all on the basis of the Access to Information Act,” the media quoted the Interior Minister as saying. Reducing bureaucracy and reducing democracy: hand in hand.
What Redmann doesn't say, but what matters: You have no chance of getting relevant information anyway. And we're tired of coming up with justifications for it. Then we can leave the transparency theater behind. Then no one will know how many anymorehttps://fragdenstaat.de/anfrage/schulwegunfaelle-mit-beteiligen-kindern...have an accident on the way to schoolor how often peoplehttps://fragdenstaat.de/anfrage/beissvorfaelle-bestensee/#nachrichten-9380...Bestensee bitten by dogsbecome. Then no one will bother you about having to worry about getting to school if the numbers rise. Because then we only see the numbers that fit into the narratives of those who want to use them to justify their political projects.
No trust, anywhere
“We want to prevent conclusions from being drawn about police methods,” says Redmann, and whispers that even with seemingly harmless inquiries, pieces of the puzzle can end up coming together in such a way that it becomes “dangerous.”
This is nonsense. Anyone who sees a society as so fragile that information about dog bites in a city of 10,000 people can be dangerous shows that they neither trust the people in their state nor their police. And it creates a breeding ground for disinformation when authorities isolate themselves and ensure even less transparency than they already do.
Because if the information is missing, the citizens' need for information does not stop. It can then be filled like an empty vase by those who claim to have the “facts.” And answers for those whose questions go unheard.
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"Democracy requires accountability. Accountability requires transparency," then-US President Barack Obama wrote in onehttps://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/freedom-information...to the leadership of the US authorities. This applies in the USA as well as here.
Redmann should know that,https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article252495364/Jan-Redmann-Bra...with his transparent dealingsjustified when he was caught drunk with an e-scooter in the middle of the election campaign. Andhttps://www.tagesspiegel.de/potsdam/brandenburg/brandenburgs-cdu-spitzen...CDU state general secretary said, his dealings are “transparent, consistent and show that Jan Redmann has decency” – which is why he can remain the party’s top candidate. He, in particular, should recognize that transparency can be a good thing, even if it may be difficult at times. Even and especially when it comes to learning from mistakes.
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