- Ministry of Digitalisation is a strong signal – implementation is key
- Digital strategy: Instead of individual measures, clear lines are needed
- Data retention: Infringing on fundamental rights and sending the wrong signal
Regarding today’s publication of the coalition agreement, Oliver Süme, Chair of the Board at eco – Association of the Internet Industry, explains:
“The digital transformation is crucial for the future viability of our country. The political signal sent with the creation of a separate Ministry of Digitalisation is all the more significant. This will finally give digital policy the visibility, authority and responsibility it deserves.”
“We welcome the coalition parties’ agreement. With the commitment to a ‘Ministry of Digitalisation and Modernisation of the State’, one of the central issues is being brought to the forefront of political action,” Süme goes on to say.
Progress in digital policy – but concrete implementation remains the key to success
“As encouraging as this signal is, implementation will be crucial,” emphasises Oliver Süme. It should not remain a symbolic political gesture: “A ministry of this kind needs a courageous mandate, clear responsibilities and a genuine willingness to shape the future. Only in this way can it powerfully advance the digital transformation. From eco’s point of view, more clarity would have been desirable here.”
From the perspective of the Internet industry, digital policy should not be a conglomeration of individual measures – it needs a consistent strategy. The lack of an overarching digital strategy in numerous projects of the German federal government – such as in the areas of intellectual property or cybersecurity – is a worrying sign.
Data protection and debureaucratisation as leverage for digital competitiveness
The association welcomes the fact that the coalition agreement provides for the reorganisation of German data protection supervision. In the future, this will be consolidated under the German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI). Süme sees this as “a lever that can provide positive impetus for the Internet industry in Germany and significantly reduce the burden on companies – provided that a debureaucratised data protection law is carried out uniformly in the future.”
It remains to be seen whether this initiative will also meet with approval in the federal states.
The agreement also provides impetus for the data centre industry – for example, through incentives as part of digitalisation of power grids as well as through promised reductions in bureaucracy for existing regulations. eco welcomes these approaches, but would have liked to have seen a clearer signal of a move away from special national regulations in favour of a European comparison. The association expressly welcomes the inclusion of the data centre industry in electricity price compensation.
eco also views the predominantly market-driven expansion of telecommunications networks as a positive development.
Indiscriminate, comprehensive storage of private IP addresses remains a violation of fundamental rights
“With the renewed inclusion of data retention in the form of IP address storage in the coalition agreement, the coalition is sending the wrong signal,” warns Süme. “These measures threaten the privacy of citizens and create an atmosphere of insecurity online – leading to considerable legal uncertainty for companies. Furthermore, the use of invasive and automated systems that interfere with the fundamental rights of citizens must be urgently linked to appropriate legal barriers, including judicial oversight.”
Finally, Süme appeals to the coalition partners: “The current discussions about Germany’s digital and technological sovereignty must not end in national isolation and insulation or one-sided preferential treatment of certain business models.” The association sees these issues as a challenge in light of current geopolitical shifts, and views it as positive that numerous considerations of the German federal government are pointing toward reducing bureaucracy.
All publications of the Association of the Internet Industry in connection with the 2025 federal election, including ecos’s Internet Policy Agenda and a concept paper on the Ministry of Digitalisation, are available here.
