Believe in the Ultimate Resort
Image by dierk schaefer (CC-BY)
As new laws are being passed, it is usually well known in Germany that the opposition will not be happy with it. Our German political landscape included two sides: Coalition and opposition, who almost never work together. The opposition is actually only some sort of deliverer for the media. They have to criticize everything so that media can report about it and make the people angry, who should then protest. Yet, as we know that also protests are not always—or rather seldom—heard, the whole situation seems helpless.
Thus, opposition has found—favoured by the new situation in Bundesrat where they have a majority—a new method to deem laws. Instead of only telling how bad some laws were, they also try to threaten the coalition by mentioning the Federal Constitutional Court. As it is not possible to call Constitutional Court based on the Basic Law in these cases, they argue that the decisions should be made by both Bundestag (federal) and Bundesrat (states). There are some laws in Germany, which have to be settled by both of them including mail or railway, but most important all laws concering the finances of states and communities.
Since the Federal Constitutional Court has gained high popularity due to its decisions against surveillance, opposition seems to be trying to use this method now. However, at the same time they are degrading the Constitutional Court to a nearly worthless level on which everybody can use it as a threat against decisions he does not like. Instead of killing the high respect our Constitutional Court has, opposition should rather try to give exact propsals for better laws, because often you have the feeling that they do not know it better, either.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
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