The German Judges Association (DRB) has called the reform proposals of Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) for easing the workload of administrative courts “inadequate”.
Sven Rebehn, the DRB’s national managing director, told the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” that the planned changes to procedural law are heading in the right direction, but the acceleration they bring is likely to be limited.
He added that the real bottleneck lies not in the procedural rules themselves but in the staffing of the judiciary.
“The backbone of a rule‑of‑law pact between the federal government and the states must be the strengthening of the courts’ personnel” Rebehn said. Administrative courts are under particularly heavy pressure: there were about 72 000 main proceedings in 2023, over 100 000 in 2024, and a rise of roughly 50 % is projected for 2025.
The decline in the number of asylum applications has not yet relieved the courts. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees is currently processing its case backlog more rapidly, creating a new wave of lawsuits. “The new wave of asylum lawsuits also brings the trend toward shorter court proceedings back into stasis” Rebehn observed.
Hubig presented a corresponding draft law on Monday. Its aim is to relieve courts and accelerate proceedings without increasing the overall effort required.
