Julia Klöckner, the President of the German Bundestag, or parliament, is demanding stricter rules for prostitution in the country.
“Germany is Europe’s whorehouse”, the 52-year-old Conservative politician said today at a gala in Berlin. “I am convinced that we have to finally outlaw prostitution and sex for money in this country”, Klöckner added.
She was speaking at the annual Heroine Awards gala, a prize organised by the feminist Alice Schwarzer Foundation, which honours exceptionally courageous women.
The 2025 laureates are Sabine Constabel and Cathrin Schauer-Kelpin, two streetworkers who are helping prostitutes to leave their line of work and trying to prevent forced prostitution and the sexual exploitation of minors.
Klöckner added that she found it “ridiculous” to say that prostitution was like any other work: “When we talk about women’s rights but say that prostitution is a job like any other, it is not only ridiculous, but it is also contemptuous towards women.
“There are no school internships in this profession either, after all.”
According to Klöckner, German legislation does not provide sufficient protection for prostitutes. On the contrary, neither the Prostitution Act nor the Prostitute Protection Act had effectively strengthened women’s rights.
Violent assaults, male dominance and involuntary participation have remained widespread.
Klöckner – who served as minister of agriculture under former chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021 – demanded Germany introduce the Nordic model prevalent in Norway and Sweden.
The Nordic model criminalises paying for sexual services but not offering such services, allowing the justice system to go after clients but not the prostitutes.
Germany had previously introduced its own Prostitution Act in 2002 under a left-wing government. That has been criticised as overly Liberal.
Prostitutes need to register with the authorities and bordellos need a permit to do business, but prostitution is generally legal.
During the coalition negotiations in early 2025, the Social Democrats as the Christian Democratic Union’s junior partner had repeatedly demanded the introduction of the Nordic model.
In the final coalition agreement, the parties decided to install an expert panel to make recommendations for legal changes.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, there were 32,000 registered prostitutes in Germany in 2024 and 2,250 bordellos with permits. This means that the number of prostitutes had risen by more than 5 per cent compared to 2023.
