(Adnkronos) – The appointment of constitutional judges divides the German governing coalition and forces the postponement of the confirmation vote. This morning, legislators from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) announced an emergency meeting on the decision of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s center-right bloc (CDU/CSU) to suddenly withdraw its support for an SPD-nominated candidate, just hours before the vote.
Conservative criticism of the candidate, law professor Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, focuses on her positions on abortion and her support for mandatory vaccination during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite resistance from part of the conservative base, her election seemed assured: Merz had expressed his support just a few days ago. But, in a surprise move this morning, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group decided to ask the SPD to remove the confirmation vote on Brosius-Gersdorf’s appointment from the agenda of the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament. (continued)
According to sources quoted by DPA, if the center-left party had refused to accept the request, the conservatives would have abstained in the vote, leaving the candidate well below the required two-thirds majority. Center-right sources cited by the German news agency spoke of a plagiarism accusation against Brosius-Gersdorf that emerged yesterday.
The controversy breaks the long tradition of consensual appointments to the country’s Supreme Court and exposes Merz’s coalition government to the risk of a spectacular split, just two months after taking office.
In recent days, tensions over the appointment of judges to the Karlsruhe Constitutional Court have been rising. The CDU/CSU candidate Guenter Spinner is engaged in his own personal battle to obtain a majority without having to rely on votes from Alternative for Germany (AfD). Conservative leaders have been reluctant to enter into talks with the Left (Die Linke) to gain the necessary support and have hinted that they would be open to proceeding with a secret ballot, leaving open the question of whether AfD votes would be used for Spinner’s confirmation.
