Category: Germany
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Leonie Koessler and Renan Araújo: A Novel German Precedent for Protecting Future Generations
On May 1st 2021, three students and the charity Plan B brought the UK government to court for failing to take enough action to cut national carbon emissions—for the second time. They argued the government had disregarded their rights to life, family life and not be discriminated against, under Articles 2, 8 and 14 ECHR. The lawsuit seems to…
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Kathrin Strauss: Ausgleichsmandate for the Scottish Parliament? – Scotland’s mixed electoral system and the Alba Party
Alex Salmond has been a controversial figure (to say the least) in Scottish politics for quite some time. Recently, he sparked further controversy when he introduced his newly founded Alba Party alongside a strategy to secure a supermajority for Scottish independence in the upcoming 2021 Scottish Parliament election. While it is not clear what exactly makes…
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Theodore Konstadinides: The German Constitutional Court’s decision on PSPP: Between mental gymnastics and common sense
The 5th of May 2020 will be remembered as a strange day for EU law and German constitutionalism. The German Constitutional Court upheld the constitutional complaints by several groups of individuals against the European Central Bank’s Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP). As explained in yesterday’s post by Thomas Horsley, the PSPP set up a framework…
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Thomas Horsley: Karlsruhe Bites Back: The German Federal Constitutional Court’s PSPP Judgment
On 5th May 2020, the German Federal Constitutional Court (GFCC) upheld a series of constitutional complaints that the German Federal Government and Bundestag had violated the Basic Law’s guarantees on democratic legitimation by failing to challenge the validity of the European Central Bank’s (ECB’s) Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP) – an initiative established in 2015…
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Stefan Theil: An Aversion to Weimar: German Constitutional Hesitance on Dissolving the Bundestag
With the FDP (Liberal Democratic Party) dropping out of coalition talks with the CDU/CSU (Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union) and Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen (Green Party), Germany faces an uncertain political future — at a time when any future government has far-reaching decisions to make at the European level. Not least of which,…
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Stefan Theil: A Vote of Confidence for the German Democratic Order: The German Federal Constitutional Court Ruling on the Application to Ban the National Democratic Party
On 17 January 2017, the German Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) ruled on the application of the German Federal Council to find that the far right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) unconstitutional pursuant to Article 21 para. 2 of the German Basic Law. This constituted the second such party ban application against the NPD after…
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Stefan Theil: A union of states, constitutions, administrations and judiciaries: some initial thoughts on the OMT ruling of the German Constitutional Court
In the midst of the all-consuming Brexit Referendum Debate, and the unfortunate vote by the United Kingdom to Leave the EU, one might be forgiven for having overlooked this particular piece of European integration litigation. If nothing else, this recent decision by the German Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) demonstrates that even in a difficult constitutional…