BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany’s parliament on Thursday voted to appoint three new judges to the Constitutional Court, avoiding a repeat of the summer’s coalition crisis.
The appointments confirmed two judges first nominated to the court in June and a third new nominee after the government failed to win approval for a prior candidate in June, sparking the crisis.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition was thrown into uncertainty by the June failure to win parliamentary approval of a centre-left judge nominee after a right-wing media campaign against her.
In June, the Social Democrats’ previous nominee Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, a law professor, was rejected after a sustained media campaign that falsely depicted her views on pregnancy termination as far from the legal mainstream.
The failure to secure the appointment of a nominee approved by the leadership of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives threw into question the sustainability of his coalition with the Social Democrats, which holds only a slim parliamentary majority.
CONTEXT
Based in Karlsruhe by the French border, the Constitutional Court is among the world’s most powerful apex courts. Its rulings have in the past torpedoed budgets and European Union bailout packages, precipitating the fall of governments.
Judge appointments require a majority of two-thirds of all votes cast in parliament as well an absolute majority of all members of parliament.
Because all parties refuse to work with the far-right Alternative for Germany, the second-largest party in parliament, reaching the two-thirds majority required to amend the constitution or appoint judges needs the support of all other parties, including the opposition Greens and Left parties.
WHAT’S NEXT
Thursday’s successful vote will reassure critics and investors unnerved by the conservative-Social Democrat coalition’s failure on two previous occasions to win key parliamentary votes.
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke, Thomas Escritt and Christoph Steitz)
