Berlin allowed to conceal arms deals

The German government is not required to disclose information about its arms deals while they are in their early stages, the country’s highest court says.

According to a ruling issued by Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court on Tuesday, the German administration is not obliged to provide the parliament (Bundestag) with details of its military export transactions.

Judges at the Karlsruhe-based court ruled that “parliamentary control shall apply only to completed processes.”

A number of German Green party lawmakers, including Hans-Christian Ströbele, Claudia Roth and Katja Keul, had brought the case against the government, arguing that the parliament had not received adequate information about the country’s arms shipments to Algeria and a controversial deal with Saudi Arabia.

However, the court said that revealing preliminary negotiations with arms firms in the lead-up to doing business with them could affect the “diplomatic dimension” of Germany’s arms export decisions.

In recent years, Germany has signed a bundle of arms deals with Algeria which are reportedly valued at 10 billion euros.
 
In 2011, it also approved the sale of around 200 German Leopard battle tanks to Saudi Arabia, but opposition lawmakers criticized the deal with Riyadh as a breach of the country’s weapons export guidelines.

SSM/HMV/SS