13 February 2024
Protect the German Federal Constitutional Court!
For a long time, we felt in Germany as though we were in a world of bliss. While the independence of the judiciary was being attacked in Poland, the USA and most recently in Israel, we were blessed with a strong constitutional court. Over the decades, it has proven to be independent and impartial; it has earned immense trust and respect among the public. However, the independence of the Federal Constitutional Court is built on sand. Now, a public debate has flared up as to whether and how the independence of the Constitutional Court should be protected. A look into other legal systems can contribute to this debate. Continue reading >>
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18 July 2023
Changing Tides in European Election Law
On 15 June, the Bundestag approved a minimum percentage threshold for elections to the European Parliament (EP). Shortly before the summer break, the Bundesrat (Federal Council) also agreed to the clause. German lawmakers already failed twice in this endeavour before the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht, short BVerfG). This time, the German legislator can refer to a binding EU legal act backing its reform efforts. This means the electoral threshold must now be treated (also by the constitutional court) as determined by EU law – with all consequences. However, even a 2% hurdle is not 100% safe from the BVerfG. Continue reading >>
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08 July 2023
Intertemporal Freedom in the Historic Climate Protection Ruling of the German Federal Constitutional Court
The climate protection ruling of the German Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe of 2021 is a historic decision. It is on a par with the Court's major landmark decisions such as Lüth, Elfes, or Brokdorf. It updates the fundamental value of equal freedom: Freedom includes future freedom and, as a right to intertemporal freedom, can demand a proportional distribution of freedom opportunities over time. Continue reading >>
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10 March 2023
A New Volume and an Old Error
It looked as if this useful series of red books had been dropped off or discontinued. However, in 2022, the Court published a voluminous book on the “General Right of Personality” (Article 2(1) Basic Law). The collection is interesting because it gives an impression of the many facets that the Court has found over time in Art. 2(1) Basic Law. But beyond that, the collection is also interesting as correction of an initial error of the Court, which, however, was never recognized as an error by the Court itself. Continue reading >>11 June 2021
A Matter of Principle
On 9 June 2021, the European Commission announced that it is bringing an infringement procedure against Germany for breach of fundamental principles of EU law. The procedure is less about the possible outcomes and more a matter of principle. By launching it, the Commission is emphasizing the notion of equality between the member states. Continue reading >>27 April 2021
A Relieving Decision
With its interim decision of 15 April 2021, the German Federal Constitutional Court has paved the way for ratification of the 2020 Own Resources Decision by the German side. At the same time, the Court shows that it will apply the well-known constitutional standards in the main proceedings, possibly – this is only a guess – concentrated on the ultra vires review, which allows the all-important dialogue with the ECJ to continue in the framework of a preliminary ruling procedure. Continue reading >>
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23 April 2021
Greatness and Tragedy
The "Next Generation EU" project (NGEU) will lead to a fundamental change in the architecture, political structure, and “finalité” of the integration process. In its scope and depth, it is even comparable to the Maastricht reform. Against this background, should and could the German Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) step in to protect Germany´s "constitutional identity"? Continue reading >>13 October 2020
How Not to Become Hegemonial
I have to start with a confession: if it was not for the Bundesverfassungsgericht and German legal scholarship, I would have not become the lawyer I am today. Writing a PhD in the Max-Planck-Institute in Heidelberg, attending classes by giants of German public law taught me to appreciate the famous German “Rechtsdogmatik”, a term that can only be poorly translated by “legal doctrine”. The conceptual sophistication and clarity of thoughts, the persuasive power of reasoning, the attention for details and the elegance with which the lack of answers to certain questions is concealed created for me an aura of infallibility and self-evident truth. I also remember my condescending attitude when I met foreign guests in the Max-Planck Institute who were not familiar enough with this constitutional language, or even dared to challenge some of its conclusions. Being inside this world felt reassuring, safe and also elevating. After wandering through the legal education of post-communist Hungary I finally saw the light. Continue reading >>
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07 October 2020
The Two Faces German Legal Hegemony?
I write this blog post just as I complete my fourth year as a professor of international law in Berlin. I am, as von Bogdandy calls, a Bildungsausländerin. My university education was first in Turkey and then in the United Kingdom. My academic career has been, for the most part, in the UK and then in Turkey. When I moved to Berlin from Istanbul four years ago to take up the professorship of international law at the Hertie School, I imagined Berlin to be somewhere between Istanbul and London. I hoped that it would be the best of both worlds, I would find a home in a city with a handsome Turkish speaking community at a university that conducts education and research in English. I also hoped that speaking Berlin’s two oft-spoken languages, Turkish and English, I would survive with my basic German, and learn more of it along the way and become a late Berliner. Continue reading >>
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06 October 2020
Vicarious Hegemony
The specter of national hegemony has haunted the field of European law ever since in its emergence in the 1950s in the wake of creation of the European Communities. As the circulation and competition between national and professional models of law have always been central to its dynamics, this transnational field has developed as a reflexive field questioning its own “European-ness” -that is its capacity to produce authentically “European” norms that are not just a mask for new forms of domination, influence or hegemony. Continue reading >>
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