Internal documents of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure based on an inquiry by FragDenStaat make it clear that the amendment was made with was motivated by alleged "safety considerations", since "a special regulation only for boats used for the observation and rescue of refugees would draw the BMVI into the focus of the general political debate on refugees."
Based on these documents, authors of the Verfassungsblog show how the regulation was changed: There were no requirements for an amendment to the regulation, official constitutional procedural standards were disregarded and the official justification for the amendment was put forward.
"This is not about security, but about racism. A minister of transport who prevents human rights activism and the saving of refugees' lives cannot be acceptable to any government. Against the background of the documents that have been made public, the resignation of Scheuer and the withdrawal of the regulation amendment becomes even more urgent. We consider the regulation to be illegal and will take legal action against it. We have also filed an emergency appeal to be allowed to leave with our ships again and do what Europe should do: We will continue to fight for solidarity and human rights."
Hanno Bruchmann, board member of Mare Liberum.
Mare Liberum will use all political means to fight against these amendments to the regulations. Please support us in this so that we can resume our human right observations at sea in the Aegean as soon as possible.