Negotiations between the Union and SPD parties have reportedly culminated in an agreement on nominations for three vacancies on the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) in Karlsruhe.
According to information obtained by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), the proposed candidates are Günter Spinner, currently a Federal Labor Court judge and the constitutional law professors Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf and Ann-Katrin Kaufhold. Spinner is considered to be aligned with the CDU, while Brosius-Gersdorf and Kaufhold are nominated by the SPD. Both factions are aiming for the election of these three individuals within the coming week. A session of the Bundestag’s relevant electoral committee has been scheduled for Monday to facilitate the process. The parliamentary vote is tentatively slated for July 10th, the penultimate day of the legislative session before the summer recess.
The successful implementation of this plan hinges on the support of the Green Party and the Left Party (Die Linke). As the Union and SPD are unwilling to enter into agreements with the AfD party, the votes of AfD parliamentarians would be necessary to achieve the required two-thirds majority. The potential for securing an agreement with the Green and Left parties was strengthened by the CDU/CSU’s recent decision to abandon their initially proposed candidate, Federal Administrative Court Judge Robert Seegmüller, who is now under consideration for a position as a civil servant state secretary within the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
The Left Party has requested further discussions with the parliamentary group leaders of the Union, SPD and Green parties. Clara Bünger, the Left’s legal policy spokesperson, stated that the Union has been obstructing talks and attempting to equate their party with the AfD. The Left party is advocating for a future right to propose candidates for Constitutional Court judges, although the next Bundestag election for these positions is not until 2029.
The selection process for these Constitutional Court judges has been subject to ongoing debate for several months. The term of office for Josef Christ, whose successor Spinner is to be, expired in November. Brosius-Gersdorf and Kaufhold are slated to replace Doris König, Vice President of the Federal Constitutional Court and Ulrich Maidowski.
