'Prostitution not acceptable' Germany's Scholz

German chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that he would like to see further legal restrictions on prostitution in Germany, saying that the sale of sex is "not acceptable" and shouldn't be "normalized."

"I don't think it's acceptable for men to purchase women," he during a question and answer session in the German parliament, the Bundestag, on Wednesday afternoon.

"It is something that has always morally angered me, and we have to do all we can to clamp down on it."

Scholz didn't respond directly to a demand from opposition conservative lawmakers to prosecute those who purchase the services of prostitutes, but he did say that prostitution was often linked to abuse, violence and criminal structures, and that he would welcome a discussion on how to combat that.

Is prostitution legal in Germany?

The conservative CDU/CSU faction in the Bundestag has called for a ban on the purchase of sex by customers, but for prostitutes themselves to remain unpunished, referring to similar new regulations in countries including Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Canada, France, Ireland and Israel.

The European Parliament has also spoken out in favor of a ban on prostitution along the lines of the so-called Nordic Model.

Last week, Germany's federal minister for women Lisa Paus (Green Party), said that the government was not planning any changes to Germany's Prostitutes Protection Act. She pointed out that the law, which came into force in July 2017 and is intended to strengthen the legal position of prostitutes, is under evaluation until 2025, reports DW.

Prostitution has always been legal in the Federal Republic of Germany (including the former West Germany), but its promotion was considered "immoral" and was a criminal act until 2002.

In the German Democratic Republic (the former East Germany), prostitution was illegal and officially non-existent.