Harsher penalties will not be enough to curb the increasing aggression against politicians, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann has said.
"The attempt to solve the social problem of a general brutalization of political debate with criminal law alone will fail," the politician from the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) told dpa. Nevertheless, he was prepared to look at proposals from the federal states on criminal law.
The federal and state interior ministers had met for a video conference on Tuesday following the brutal attack the Social Democratic Party's (SPD) leading candidate for the European elections in Saxony, Matthias Ecke.
In a joint resolution, the conference of interior ministers asked the justice ministers to examine as soon as possible whether "the specific injustice that can be seen in the fact that such attacks jeopardize democracy" is already sufficiently reflected in criminal law.
It should also be examined whether "the deliberate dissemination of disinformation with the aim of influencing elections or escalating violence constitutes a criminal offence."
Attacks on politicians have been on the rise.
On May 3, Ecke was putting up posters in Dresden when he was beaten so badly he had to be hospitalized
On Tuesday, a man hit Berlin's top economic official, Franziska Giffey of the SPD on the back of the head in a public library.
The leading Green Party candidate for the city council, Yvonne Mosler, was jostled and threatened while putting up election posters in Dresden.
According to the police, two members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the state parliament were verbally and physically attacked by suspected opponents of the party in Stuttgart on Wednesday.
Saxony wants to introduce a bill in the Bundesrat, or upper house of parliament, that would create a new criminal offence. According to the bill, influencing of public officials and elected representatives through so-called political stalking is to be penalized.
This involves threatening situations such as aggressive marches in front of a politician's home.
Buschmann said that he had not yet received the wording of the proposals from Saxony. In principle, criminal law must fulfil special requirements, he said.
"This means that we cannot use imprecise wording that would potentially criminalize legitimate behaviour."
Freedom of assembly is a valuable liberty, and citizens are also allowed to criticize a politician.
"This must be precisely differentiated from an unacceptable threatening situation," emphasized the justice minister.