Not a good day for Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann: The states are giving up on two of the FDP’s laws in the last meeting of the year. However, they approve many other projects.
The Federal Council has shown Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) the red card twice and sent two laws from his house to the mediation committee. Now a compromise must be found in this committee of the Federal Council and the Bundestag.
It concerns the law on the digital documentation of criminal proceedings and the law on the increased use of video conferencing technology in civil, administrative, labor, financial and social courts. However, the state chamber gave the green light to 24 resolutions that came from the Bundestag – including the supplementary budget for 2024, which was only passed by parliament that morning.
At the start of its meeting, the Federal Council commemorated the Roma, Sinti and Yenish people murdered by the National Socialists with a minute’s silence. “A worthy commemoration of the suffering of the previous generation is the basis for good, equal coexistence today,” said Federal Council President Manuela Schwesig (SPD), the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Use of video conferencing technology in civil justice
This law shows “distrust of judges,” criticized Hesse’s Justice Minister, Roman Poseck, in the state chamber. Two aspects in particular bothered the CDU politician: that a video hearing should be carried out at the request of an individual participant and that a judge must give detailed reasons if he rejects a video hearing. In addition, the written justification for such a rejection means a significant amount of additional bureaucratic effort. “One has the impression that the opposite of what the court considers sensible is always done,” criticized Poseck.
Digital documentation of criminal trials
Here too, the states referred to the unanimously negative criticism from the ranks of the judiciary. They showed fundamental professional concerns and warned of the danger to finding the truth and to the impairment of victim protection. The relationship between the human, technical, organizational and financial effort and the added value that digital documentation could bring was also viewed critically. According to the Federal Ministry of Justice, the documentation should be carried out through an audio recording that is automatically transferred to an electronic text document.
Municipal heat planning
There was also a request to go to the Mediation Committee regarding the law on heat planning – from Bavaria, which did not receive a majority for this. This means that the law can come into force together with the Federal Government’s Heating Act on January 1, 2024. In a motion for a resolution, the states demanded more money from the federal government for this task. Large cities should draw up heat plans by the end of June 2026, smaller cities and municipalities with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants by the end of June 2028. Only when a municipality has a heating plan do homeowners have to ensure when installing new heating that it is powered by at least 65 percent renewable energy. The new heating law initially applies to new buildings within new development areas.
Better climate adaptation
Following the approval of the Federal Council, the law for better climate adaptation can come into force next year as planned. The plan is to prescribe binding strategies and measures for the federal, state and local governments. This will create a strategic framework for preventive climate adaptation at all administrative levels in Germany for the first time, the law states. Specifically, the federal government is committed to presenting an adaptation strategy with measurable goals. A critical point is financing – the law does not contain any specific regulations on this.
New regulation of organ donation
In view of the low numbers of organ donations, the federal states are pushing for a fundamental change in the legal rules. An adopted resolution states that the current extended consent solution should be replaced by an objection solution. This means that the consent of the person concerned or a close relative or an authorized representative would no longer be required for organ removal. In principle, every person would be considered an organ donor unless they objected to this during their lifetime or one of their next of kin does so after their death. The resolution calls on the federal government to ensure that this contradiction solution is included in the Transplantation Act.
Expansion of the EU to include Ukraine and other countries
The regional chamber supported the EU’s admission negotiations with Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and states in the Western Balkans. “In view of global developments, enlargement is in the European Union’s geopolitical self-interest,” said an adopted statement. “History shows that previous enlargements have made the European Union stronger,” said Bremen’s Prime Minister Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD). Hesse’s Federal and European Minister Lucia Puttrich (CDU) emphasized that joining the EU could no longer be justified solely by economic motives. “It is joining a family of values. A family that promises security, prosperity and peace.”
Moldova and Georgia will become safe countries of origin
With the Bundesrat’s approval, it is clear that Moldova and Georgia are now safe third countries from a German perspective. This step is intended to limit the increasing number of asylum seekers. The recognition rate for asylum seekers from the two former Soviet republics was less than 0.1 percent in the first half of the year. Safe countries of origin are those in which it is assumed that there is generally neither persecution nor inhumane or degrading treatment and that the foreigner concerned is therefore not at risk of serious harm in his or her home country. This makes it easier for an asylum application to be rejected. In addition, an asylum application does not have a suspensive effect.
Ban on the sale of sky lanterns
The Federal Council approved a ban on the sale of sky lanterns. These pose significant risks, it said in an explanation. It was pointed out that they reached a height of up to 500 meters and a flight distance of several kilometers, but could not be controlled and sometimes still burned as they descended to the earth. The ban goes back to the fire in the monkey house in the Krefeld Zoo on New Year’s Eve 2019/20, in which 50 animals died, including 8 great apes. A mother and her two adult daughters had a sky lantern raised near the zoo. The use of sky lanterns was subsequently banned. However, these could still be legally provided and purchased.