The Stuttgart Administrative Court rejected the Berlin Left's application against Manuel Hagel's remarks, ruling he spoke as a party politician, announced on Thursday, 22 October 2026.
A FOCUS online survey found 72 Berlin police officers requested or applied for transfers since the September election, 58 of them towards Baden-Württemberg.
Benjamin Jendro of the GdP Berlin said the number was a lot in a few weeks and that Berlin has 18,500 uniformed officers.
The Stuttgart Administrative Court rejected an injunction request by the Berlin state association of the Left, which sought to stop Baden-Württemberg from repeating two statements by Manuel Hagel (CDU) about the Berlin police and the party. The court announced the decision on Thursday, 22 October 2026, after rejecting the application on Wednesday. According to the court, Hagel spoke as a party politician rather than in his role as state interior minister, since he did not invoke the specific authority of his office and used no official resources to spread the remarks. The statements were therefore classed as part of political debate and protected by freedom of expression, so they were not subject to the duty of objectivity and neutrality that applies to official conduct. The court also said that the reference to him as interior minister in a Bild report was not enough to establish a link to his office.
In a Bild report, Hagel reportedly described the Berlin police as "too good" for a "left clan mayor" who wanted to take away its resources and powers, a reference to Elif Eralp, the Left's lead candidate. He also reportedly accused the Berlin Left of ruining internal security and switching off the lights at the police. The Left had sought to forbid both statements. A law firm acting for the party sent Hagel a cease-and-desist declaration, which the Deutsche Presse-Agentur has seen, and the party reserved further legal steps if he did not comply. Hagel's entourage told the agency he would not sign it.
After the Left's win in the Berlin state election in September, Baden-Württemberg and Brandenburg openly invited Berlin police officers to transfer. A FOCUS online survey of all states found that 72 Berlin officers had since requested or applied for a transfer to another state. Of these, 58 expressed interest in moving to Baden-Württemberg, ten to Bavaria, three to Thuringia and one to Bremen, while two states did not reply. The Berlin police said seven transfer applications had been formally known to it since 6 September. It reported 36 transfers to other states in 2024 and 22 in 2025. The gap is explained by officers not having to declare an inquiry to another state before actually filing a transfer request in Berlin.
Benjamin Jendro, spokesman for the Berlin branch of the Police Union (GdP), told FOCUS online that the figure did not surprise the union but was a lot in a few weeks. He said that if it became a pattern, the force could lose almost a company-sized unit in theory, and that a police precinct in Berlin could disappear within two years. Berlin has 18,500 uniformed police officers. Jendro said that until now switching states had been "almost impossible" because the state interior ministers had agreed against poaching, and that this now seemed obsolete. He also warned that many young officers were resigning in Berlin, giving up their modest pension entitlements to apply in other states, which he called a long-term threat.
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The Stuttgart Administrative Court dismissed the Berlin Left's urgent application to bar Baden-Württemberg interior minister Manuel Hagel from repeating remarks about Berlin police and the party. Seventy-two Berlin officers have since sought transfers to other states.
AI text based on reports by Focus, N-tv, DIE WELT and other publishers. Published .