Bonn/Berlin, 06.12.2021

The German Broadband Association (BREKO) comments on the current discussion on the distribution of subject areas, in particular digital responsibilities, within the future federal government:

We at BREKO welcome the expansion of the Federal Ministry of Transport to include the digital sector. This should mean that the topic of digital infrastructure will be dealt with by one ministry in future and that the existing distribution of responsibilities across several ministries will come to an end.

We regret that there will not be a separate digital ministry. However, if the new BMVD is given responsibility for other overarching cross-cutting issues of digitalization, such as IT security, administrative modernization, the use of artificial intelligence or quantum computing, in addition to the expansion of fibre optics, this would be a very important signal for more clout in digital policy. This would also create the basis for a digital policy “from a single source”.

In order to find solutions for the major digitalization issues and to initiate the implementation of the projects mentioned in the new coalition agreement, we need agile structures that develop concepts and ideas for the federal government and get them off the ground. From BREKO’s point of view, the establishment of an institution (“think tank”) advising the federal government could be helpful, for example. This competence center could develop implementation ideas, advise the ministries and also bring the overarching digital topics to the local authorities and administrations and provide practical information about them.