Magdeburg (dpa/sa) – After several electoral failures, the black-red-yellow coalition wants to change the procedure for filling the top data protection post in Saxony-Anhalt. In the future, the appointment will no longer be linked to a job advertisement. Instead, the parliamentary groups should be given the right to make proposals. If things go well, an election could be held before the summer break, said the parliamentary manager of the FDP parliamentary group, Guido Kosmehl, on Wednesday in Magdeburg.
The amendment to the law is due to be discussed in Parliament for the first time on Thursday. “We’re not changing the criteria,” said Kosmehl. Care will be taken to ensure that the applicant is suitable and has the appropriate qualifications. He thinks a procedure without a call for tenders is more promising, said Kosmehl. “We finally want a data protection officer.”
In October, after an extensive tendering process by the state administration, it was repeatedly unsuccessful in parliament to elect a state commissioner for data protection. None of the six candidates received a required majority. In the spring of 2022, the election also failed.
CDU parliamentary group leader Guido Heuer said on Wednesday that the coalition would propose one person. The aim is to fill the position in the first half of the year. The parliamentary manager of the SPD parliamentary group, Rüdiger Erben, said that there are currently no candidates in sight. The opposition factions criticized the planned change.
The award of the position has a long history. After extending his term of service several times, the top data protection officer, Harald von Bose, retired at the end of 2020. The election of a successor had already failed in the spring of 2018 because the two-thirds majority required at the time in the state parliament was missed. The hurdles were then lowered so that the majority of the members of the state parliament is now sufficient for the election.
