FDP, Conservatives Feud Over Security

The conservatives and free-market liberal Free Democratic Party, possible coalition partners in a new government, are feuding over security a few days before Germans go to vote. At issue is a quote by Bavarian Interior Minister Günther Beckstein, a member of the Christian Social Union and possible justice minister in a conservative government. In a newspaper interview, Beckstein called for jailing foreigners police believed to be dangerous. "Those who can't be deported, but are still dangerous, should not be able to move around freely in Germany," said Beckstein. The proposal outraged the leadership of the FDP, which is in favor of a transparent state and the preservation of civil liberties. Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, an FDP leader, said that Beckstein should know that such demands are "unconstitutional." Should her party join a coalition government with the Christian Democratic Union, she said, they would have their eye on the justice minister post.