Right now, the CDU (think center-right, like moderate Republicans) and SPD (center-left, somewhat like Democrats) are hashing out a deal to govern together after recent elections. Their stated goal? To “strengthen representative democracy.” But some of their leaked proposals have raised eyebrows—and alarm bells—because they seem to involve curbing free speech and even banning certain politicians from running for office. Here’s what’s going on.

Scrapping Transparency: Goodbye to the Germany’s Freedom of Information Act

Criminalizing “Lies”: A Slippery Slope for Free Speech It gets worse

Banning Politicians: “Incitement” as a Career Ender

What’s the Big Picture?

think of it this way: imagine a Republican-Democrat coalition promising to “fix” Congress by killing FOIA, jailing people for “fake news,” and barring candidates for “hate speech.” You’d have protests in the streets. That’s the vibe in Germany right now—except their system’s more used to compromise, so the backlash is still brewing. Whether these plans survive the final coalition deal is unclear, but they’ve already lit a fuse. Germany’s about to test how much mess it can handle—or suppress.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/germanys-coalition-government-wants-strengthen-democracy-abolishing-it