Citing experiences in Israel, Poland and Hungary, Germany moves to protect judicial system

Germany’s governing coalition and the conservative opposition present a plan to protect the country’s highest court against possible future manipulation or obstruction by extremist or authoritarian politicians.

Justice Minister Marco Buschmann cites experiences in Poland, Hungary and Israel as illustrating the need to bolster the Federal Constitutional Court.

Germany’s own political landscape has become increasingly fragmented in recent years, with the far-right Alternative for Germany party emerging as a significant political force.

The plan put forward by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition and the mainstream conservative Union bloc, the biggest opposition force, calls for the court’s ground rules to be anchored in the Constitution, which they largely weren’t when the post-World War II German Constitution was drawn up 75 years ago.