Bundestag: Emmenegger new SPD candidate as a constitutional judge

The administrative judge Sigrid Emmenegger is the new SPD candidate for election as a judge at the Federal Constitutional Court. This emerges from a joint letter from the Union and SPD parliamentary managing directors of their political groups, which is available to the German Press Agency.

Emmenegger has been a judge at the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig since 2021. She is 48 years old, was already a research assistant at the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe from 2009 to 2013 and later a judge at the Rhineland-Palatinate Higher Administrative Court. “In personal conversations, the parliamentary group tours have been able to gain a very positive picture of Dr. Emmenegger and are convinced of their personal and professional suitability for the office,” write the first parliamentary managing director of the Union, Steffen Bilger, and his SPD colleague Dirk Wiese.

“Positive impression” also at the CSU

CSU national group leader Alexander Hoffmann also reported a “positive impression” that he had won from Emmenegger. “It is a candidate who has the necessary level of reluctance when it comes to public appearances. That was a point that has employed many of my colleagues in the past,” Hoffmann told the Editorial Network Germany (RND). Emmenegger also does not make the impression “that she is politically questioning core positions of the Union or wants to completely turn a solid case law of the Federal Constitutional Court upside down”. Hoffmann emphasized: “We will discuss the personnel in the Union faction. I assume that the consent is available.”

This should indicate that the Union will be supporting the SPD candidate this time. The actual SPD candidate Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf had given up a candidacy at the beginning of August for resistance in the ranks of the CDU/CSU.

The election of Potsdam Jura Professor Brosius-Gersdorf and two other candidates for the Federal Constitutional Court was discontinued in the Bundestag in July because the resistance in the Union faction against Brosius-Gersdorf had become too great. The top of the parliamentary group could not guarantee the support for the coalition partner SPD. Parts of the Union faction rejected the SPD candidate, among other things, because of their attitude towards abortions.

The other two candidates for the Federal Constitutional Court are the Federal Labor judge Günter Spinner and the constitutional lawyer Ann-Katrin Kaufhold nominated by the SPD. In the Bundestag, a two -thirds majority is necessary for the election.

Planned new election in September

SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch announced at the end of August that the SPD had a new proposal. Before the name is mentioned, one wants to speak to the Union, then also with the green and left. He assumed that the judges for Karlsruhe will still be elected in the Bundestag in September. In order to achieve the two -thirds majority, the Union and SPD want the support of Greens and Left.

Crisis in coalition

The failed judge election had also led to a crisis of trust in the black and red coalition. Union faction leader Jens Spahn (CDU) was particularly criticized. Leading Social Democrats had made it clear that they expected more reliability and loyalty from their coalition partners CDU and CSU. Miersch wrote in a letter to his MPs that the Union would now have to confess to the rules of governance. “Only if commitments exist are sustainable compromises possible. Only then can we regain trust and secure political ability to act.”

Greens and the left react to the name of the name

Greens and the left reacted reserved to the new personnel proposal. Green Group leader Britta Haßelmann told the magazine “Stern”: “We have also reached a name for a person to be pushing, we will now exchange ourselves promptly. It is plentiful in view of the history that you are not waiting for our feedback.”

The left-wing interior expert Clara Bünger criticized in the “Tagesspiegel”: “The coalition is obviously not disciplined enough to keep the name suggestions in the room until all questions are clarified.” She warned the Union “not to damage another candidate due to a dubious approach”. In the “Rheinische Post”, Bünger called on the coalition to seek the conversation with the left faction as soon as possible, “to provide democratic majorities and prevent further chaos”.

The AfD keeps an open support for Emmenegger. Party vice Stephan Brandner told the “Rheinische Post”: “We will carefully examine the new candidate and her positions and then form a judgment. And of course we assume that Ms. Emmenegger will also introduce itself to our faction if she handles it in others.”