The Union faction recently announced that it saw the Federal Constitutional Court as sufficiently protected from extremists. Four professional associations of lawyers are now calling for new rules in the Basic Law.
The lawyers are not happy. Four associations made their displeasure known in a joint appeal. An unusual process. The aim is to protect the Federal Constitutional Court more strongly from the influence of extreme parties and to include certain rules in the Basic Law – such as the required two-thirds majority for the election of judges.
The Union faction in the Bundestag declared last week that it did not want to negotiate with the traffic light factions about such a reform. Your consent would be necessary for a corresponding change to the Basic Law. Afterwards, party leader Friedrich Merz indicated in an interview that he would back down. At the political level, however, the situation remained deadlocked.
Call to continue conversations
The German Lawyers’ Association, the German Lawyers’ Association, the German Association of Women Lawyers and the German Association of Judges are now calling on “all democratic parties” to continue the talks “for the benefit of the free-democratic basic order”. The four organizations bring together lawyers from all professional groups.
Political initiatives are now needed in the federal states to best protect the judiciary as a whole against targeted interventions in its independence and to strengthen it as a “bulwark of democracy,” the call goes on to say. The examples of Poland and Hungary showed how quickly even supposedly stable constitutional states can collapse.
“There has never been such a call from independent legal organizations in German history,” says Ulrich Karpenstein, Vice President of the German Lawyers’ Association, to the ARD capital studio. “It shows that this is not a ‘traffic light’ project, but that there is agreement among experts about the need for action. Taking constitutional precautions for the independence and functionality of our judiciary is not a question of party politics.”
Also Constitutional judge involved
Within the Union faction there had been repeated accusations that the court itself had not yet been included in the deliberations. Among other things, there was a guest article by two former constitutional judges in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, by explaining their suggestions, the discussion gained momentum. They also communicated with members of parliament and with the state justice ministers, who are working on their own draft law and are already quite far along.
Now there is also the fact that the chairman of the permanent deputation of the German Lawyers’ Association is Henning Radtke – a constitutional judge who was also elected at the suggestion of the Union.
Federal President turns on
At a debate forum to mark 75 years of the Basic Law, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also joined the debate. In countries like Poland and Hungary, the independence of the highest courts has always been at the center of attacks on liberal democracy.
“That’s why I think it’s right to include regulations for the structure of the court, the election process and the terms of office of judges in the Basic Law,” said Steinmeier. “Regulations that could then only be changed with a two-thirds majority.”
He does not underestimate the scope and complexity of such a regulation, said Steinmeier in a debate forum on democracy in his official residence at Bellevue Palace. “Nevertheless, in my opinion now is the time to think about the content and scope of such an amendment to the constitution. It would be good if a serious debate got underway about it.”