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Berlin (dpa) - The Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag demands changes to two federal government projects against extremism and racism - the SPD accuses it of blocking.

The controversial issues are the planned new "Welfare Democracy Act" and efforts to delete the term "race" from the Basic Law.

Both are part of the 89-point plan against right-wing extremism and racism that the cabinet approved in December.

Among other things, it is intended to ensure adequate support for the prevention of extremism.

The Union parliamentary group, however, has “fundamental reservations” against the “defensive democracy law”, as the vice-chairmen Thorsten Frei and Nadine Schön (both CDU) wrote in a letter to Federal Family Minister Franziska Giffey (SPD) on Tuesday, to the German press agency is present.

They therefore asked that the key points for the new law not be passed in the cabinet today, as originally planned.

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Federal Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) reacted irritably.

"Anyone who is serious about fighting right-wing extremism and racism must act," she demanded.

"Right-wing extremism is the greatest threat to peaceful coexistence in our country."

The main features of the new law are currently being drawn up within the federal government.

The family and interior ministries have worked out the first cornerstones - this is a preliminary stage to a formal draft law.

The CDU / CSU parliamentary group has expressed more fundamental concerns on three points.

She doubts the need for a new funding law because the federal program “Live Democracy” already exists, which supports projects on democracy, diversity and the prevention of extremism.

In addition, Schön und Frei missed "a separate and written commitment by the grant recipients to the principles of the free democratic basic order".

After all, the Union wants to make sure that money goes to the federal voluntary service through the new law.

Lambrecht explained: "Anyone who delays and delays this damages the commitment of all the democrats across the country who are committed to cohesion and against extremism."

When asked about the delay, a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior said in Berlin on Wednesday that Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) had "made it clear several times that he wanted to bring this point into the cabinet, and nothing has changed".

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"It is annoying and increasingly incomprehensible for us members of the SPD parliamentary group that the Union is blocking such important legal projects as the defensive democracy law and the deletion of the term" race "from the Basic Law," said the parliamentary deputy chairman, Dirk Wiese, the dpa.

At the beginning of March, Seehofer and Lambrecht agreed on a new version of the Ministry of Justice that would ban discrimination “on racial grounds”.

At the moment it says: "Nobody may be disadvantaged or preferred because of their gender, their origin, their race, their language, their homeland and origin, their beliefs, their religious or political views."

Critics complain that this also transports the concept of alleged human races.

Lambrecht urged progress.

"Changes to the Basic Law need time for parliamentary debates and two-thirds majorities," she emphasized.

"It is all the more regrettable that we were once again unable to pass the government-approved draft in the cabinet because the Union parliamentary group is blocking it."

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The CDU / CSU parliamentary group is open to a reformulation of Article 3 in the Basic Law, said Frei of the dpa, “if the new formulation actually represents progress”.

He explained: “This proposal by the Federal Ministry of Justice could reduce the actual protection, because if only“ racist ”discrimination were banned, only those discrimination would be prohibited if they were made with a corresponding attitude.

However, a two-class society of discrimination must not be created. "

Instead, Frei advocates banning discrimination against people on the basis of “their supposed race”.

SPD representative Wiese complained: “With its blocking stance, the Union faction is not only opposing its own government.

It also increasingly lacks credibility when it comes to pulling the ground off right-wing extremism and racism with strong means. "

If the Union is serious, both laws would have to be passed in the cabinet at the latest after Easter, said Wiese.

"After that it will be too late."

Lambrecht emphasized: "I expect that both projects will finally be on the agenda at the next cabinet meeting."

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210331-99-42587 / 2

89-point plan of the cabinet committee against right-wing extremism and racism

Basic Law Article 3