This is how the traffic light coalition and the Union want to better protect the Federal Constitutional Court

The traffic light parties, together with the CDU/CSU as the largest opposition party, want to change the Basic Law in order to better protect the Federal Constitutional Court from political influence. This is intended to protect Germany’s highest court from unwanted influence by parties on the political fringes, as has been observed in recent years in some European countries such as Poland and Hungary.

The SPD, Greens, FDP and CDU/CSU presented joint proposals on Tuesday. The aim is to place greater emphasis on the status of the Karlsruhe court as a constitutional body.

Constitutional judges should be given service and age limits

The parliamentary groups involved now want to quickly introduce a draft law to the Bundestag. The amendment to the Basic Law is to be completed during the term of office of the traffic light government, which ends in autumn 2025. This requires a two-thirds majority, which the four parliamentary groups together have.

The plans provide for the division of the court into two senates, each with eight judges, to be enshrined in the Basic Law. It is also to be enshrined that judges remain in office for a maximum of twelve years and up to an age limit of 68.

The project is also intended to ensure independence and functionality. This had not yet been done when the Basic Law came into force in May 1949, when the Constitutional Court was newly created – in contrast to other constitutional bodies such as the Bundestag, Bundesrat, Federal President or the Federal Government.

Amendment to the Basic Law aims to strengthen the Federal Constitutional Court’s protective shield

The Basic Law already stipulates that half of the judges are elected by the Bundestag and half by the Bundesrat. However, the traffic light parties and the Union want to insert a so-called opening clause: if one of the parliaments fails to fill a vacant judge position in time, the other should be able to exercise the right to vote. “In this case, the possibility should be created for the right to vote to also be exercised by the other electoral body,” says the parties’ key points paper.

Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) and specialist politicians from the traffic light parties had been negotiating the changes with Union representatives for months. The background to this is developments in the erosion of the rule of law in other countries such as Poland and Hungary and the strengthening of the AfD, which the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies as certain right-wing extremist in parts.

“The Federal Constitutional Court is a protective shield for fundamental rights, but its own protective shield needs even more resilience,” Buschmann explained at the presentation. It is “about our shared responsibility as serious democrats. And we have faced up to precisely this responsibility.”