Permanent authorized representative of the PKGr
The permanent authorized representative of the parliamentary control body supports the parliamentary control of the federal intelligence services as an auxiliary body of the German parliamentary control body .
On December 14, 2016, the Parliamentary Control Committee proposed the administrative lawyer Arne Schlatmann as permanent authorized representative. He was appointed on January 10, 2017 by the President of the Bundestag by handing out the certificate of appointment.
Need for reform and emergence
The deficits in parliamentary control of the intelligence services revealed in the NSA / NSU committees of inquiry led to the amendment of the Control Committee Act (PKGrG) in 2016 .
In the justification for the amendment of the PKGrG (law on the further development of parliamentary control of the federal intelligence services of November 30, 2016) it was stated that structural control was not sufficiently guaranteed. The control rights to which the control body is entitled were not exercised with the necessary intensity due to the insufficient number of employees and the increasing complexity of the objects of control (including in the SIGINT area ).
With the amendment of the PKGrG, which came into force on December 7, 2016 , the office of “permanent authorized representative of the parliamentary control body” was created. It supports the responsible bodies of the Bundestag - the parliamentary control body , the trust committee and the G10 commission . Previously there was only one committee secretariat and one "task force".
Principles and legal status
The office of permanent authorized representative is regulated in § 5a and § 5b PKGrG. As an auxiliary body of a body of the German Bundestag, the office is part of the legislature .
The permanent plenipotentiary is appointed by the President of the Bundestag for a period of five years on the proposal of the Parliamentary Control Committee . The proposal is made by a majority of the members of the supervisory body. A one-off reappointment is permitted. The term of office ends at the end of the term of office or with the confinement which the President of the Bundestag undertakes at the request of three quarters of the members of the PKGr.
He is in a public office and at the same time may not hold any other salaried office or exercise any other profession. He receives official remuneration in the amount of salary group B 9 of a federal civil servant .
Tasks and action
The permanent authorized representative examines selected facts on the instruction of the parliamentary control body according to its due discretion . The trust committee, in consultation with the parliamentary control body, can also issue orders to the permanent authorized representative.
Its tasks include the preparation of the meetings and reports of the PKGr. He regularly takes part in the meetings of the parliamentary control body, the G10 commission and the trust committee. He reports to the parliamentary control body at every meeting on the results of his investigations and other activities.
Since the meetings of the PKGr take place in secret in accordance with Section 10 (1) PKGrG , annual public hearings of the presidents of the federal intelligence services are planned, which will be prepared by the permanent authorized representative. Similar hearings are regularly held in the Intelligence Control Committee of the US House of Representatives ; the heads of the British intelligence services have already been heard publicly by the control committee there.
Staff and Powers
The permanent authorized representative is the superior of a staff member. According to § 12 PKGrG, these are employees of the Bundestag administration . 20 to 30 employees should work in three to four presentations. On January 10, 2017, the staff was set up as a new subdivision “Parliamentary Control Intelligence Services” in the Bundestag administration.
According to Section 12 (3) PKGrG, the permanent authorized representative and his employees have the control powers of Section 5 PKGrG in accordance with the instructions. The powers enable u. a. to inspect files and stored data, to gain access to offices, to question members of the federal government and employees of federal authorities orally or in writing and to request legal and administrative assistance from courts and authorities.
Individual evidence
- ↑ SZ Profile Arne Schlatmann. Retrieved December 30, 2016 .
- ↑ Press release German Bundestag. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c ntv : Secret Service Commissioner light is coming. In: ntv. August 26, 2015, accessed December 29, 2016 .
- ↑ Bundestag : Printed matter. In: Bundestag. July 5, 2016, accessed December 29, 2016 .
- ↑ Press release German Bundestag. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .