(23 Jul 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
POOL
ARCHIVE: Karlsruhe, Germany – 13 October 2016
1. German Federal Constitutional Court judges entering court room
2. Wide of judges sitting down
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Karlsruhe, Germany – 13 October 2016
3. Exterior of German Federal Constitutional Court
4. Sign reading (German) “Federal Constitutional Court”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Berlin, Germany – 23 July 2024
5. Close of German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann speaking
6. Wide of news conference
7. SOUNDBITE (German) Marco Buschmann, German Justice Minister:
"If this second element, if a majority is not prepared to accept a decision, if they don’t like it, if the simple legislator has the power to shape how it works, then such a court is vulnerable. That is the experience of Poland, that is the experience of Hungary, that is also the experience of the so-called judicial reform debate in Israel."
8. Wide of Buschmann speaking
9. Cameras
10. SOUNDBITE (German) Marco Buschmann, German Justice Minister:
"What happens in the theoretical case, which thank God is a theoretical case at a federal level in Germany, but has happened in other countries, that there are obstructive minorities or even majorities that do not want the Constitutional Court to function well, possibly also blocking or refusing to elect a judge. We want to establish a substitute election mechanism that would allow the Bundestag and the Bundesrat to elect the judges, so that the other body can step in as a substitute election body if such a blockade should occur."
POOL
ARCHIVE: Karlsruhe, Germany – 13 October 2016
11. Wide of courtroom
12. German Federal Constitutional Court president Andreas Vosskuhle speaking
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Berlin, Germany – 23 July 2024
13. SOUNDBITE (German) Marco Buschmann, German Justice Minister:
"But to believe that if we had permanent anti-democratic majorities in the German Bundestag, constitutional law alone could solve all our problems is an illusion. And that is why, alongside what we are doing here, another thing remains at least as significant, perhaps much more significant, namely for serious democrats to ensure they convince so many people that, if possible, there is never an anti-democratic majority or an anti-democratic qualified minority in the German Bundestag. That is the decisive factor.”
14. Journalists
15. SOUNDBITE (German) Marco Buschmann, German Justice Minister:
"And everything else helps to mitigate and delay problems, should they arise. But in the long run, serious democrats must achieve broad majorities at the ballot box, regardless of the form they take. That is the best protection against anti-democratic obstruction and there is no way around it"
16. Journalists
17. Wide of news conference
STORYLINE:
Germany’s governing coalition and the conservative opposition on Tuesday presented a plan to protect the country’s highest court against possible future manipulation or obstruction by extremist or authoritarian politicians.
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann cited experiences in Poland, Hungary and Israel as illustrating the need to bolster the Federal Constitutional Court.
Germany’s own political landscape has become increasingly fragmented in recent years, with the far-right Alternative for Germany party emerging as a significant political force.
That means a two-thirds parliamentary majority would be required to change them in the future, rather than a simple majority.
It’s rare for a governing coalition to have that many seats in parliament, and unheard of for a single party to be that strong.
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