The Federal Ministry of Family Affairs and the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag have criticized an initiative by a small group of MPs by the SPD and CDU to punish prostitution for customers.

Marcus Weinberg (CDU) said a ban would push “women into dark basements and illegality”. This was pointless. The Federal Ministry of Family Affairs said a ban on prostitution was “not expedient”. A spokesman for the Union of Criminal Investigators argued that prostitutes were illegally driven by such a regulation, similar to what Weinberg said. According to surveys, the majority of Germans are against a ban on prostitution.

33,000 prostitutes are officially registered in Germany. In total, up to 400,000 prostitutes possibly work in the Federal Republic.