New normal: Fight over controversial judge reflects new era in German politics
Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
BERLIN – A row in the German coalition over a controversial high-court nominee has turned into a test of wills that reflects a new reality in the country's politics.
The coalition government of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) was set to elect three new judges for the sixteen-member constitutional court in the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, on Friday.
But discord over the nomination of Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf – the SPD pick whose liberal views on abortion stirred opposition on the conservative benches – forced the partners to abandon the vote after several dozen Christian Conservative lawmakers threatened to oppose her.
The failed vote is not just a blow to the cohesion of Germany's fledgling coalition, but to the authority of Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Jens Spahn, the leader of the conservative parliamentary group, both of whom had signalled they would support Brosius-Gersdorf's nomination.
More broadly, the dissension in the conservative ranks so early in the term signals that the fractious climate that characterised Germany's previous coalition – and ultimately precipitated its collapse – is not, as many voters hoped, over.
The centrist alliance holds one of the narrowest majorities in postwar history as parties on both on the far right and left have gained ground. That reality has led factions within both the CDU and the SPD, the two parties that have dominated German politics since the war, to abandon more moderate terrain in an effort to claw back lost ground.
This week's battle over the court nominee is only the latest example of this phenomenon, and unlikely the last, as the coalition is expected to tackle a number of hot-button partisan issues in the coming years, including conscription and migration. Conservative values Brosius-Gersdorf, a 54-year-old law professor, has advocated liberalising Germany's restrictive abortion law, which criminalises abortions in some circumstances, though without rigorous enforcement. As part of an expert committee on abortion law reform, she argued for a blanket decriminalisation of abortion last year.
She has also argued in favour of allowing vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, and publicly supported banning the far-right Alternative for Germany.
Over the last days, right-wing actors had accused her of partiality.
Conservative MPs – many of whom opposed liberalising abortion rules – have criticised her nomination, though mostly behind the scenes. Speaking anonymously, one lawmaker dubbed her "critical of life", another called her 'unelectable' and 'maximally unqualified' due to her vaccine position. Majority miscalculation Despite that opposition, both the chancellor and Spahn, the CDU's parliamentary leader, had insisted earlier this week that the Christian Democrats would back Brosius-Gersdorf.
But on Thursday it gradually became clear they had underestimated the opposition within their ranks and would likely fail to produce the necessary two-thirds majority.
After an impromptu meeting on Friday morning, the Christian Democrats officially asked to delay the vote on Brosius-Gersdorf, citing unsubstantiated accusations of plagiarism involving her doctoral thesis.
The coalition then decided to postpone the vote, leaving SPD lawmakers fuming.
The fate of the nominations is now in question.
The SPD's chief whip, Dirk Wiese, said that he never would have thought that Germany could experience polarised debates about judge nominations like in the United States and Poland.
'The behaviour of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group today is in no way comprehensible to me,' said Macit Karaahmetoglu, a fellow SPD lawmaker and chair of the Bundestag's agenda committee.
The opposition branded the failed Friday election a 'disaster' for the coalition, as Green parliamentary leader, Britta Haßelmann, put it.
She blamed 'above all' Spahn and Merz for the impasse, adding that such an incident was unprecedented during judge elections.
All eyes on Merz
The evident split over abortion rights is putting a renewed spotlight on the stability of Merz's majority in parliament.
Back in April, Merz did not garner enough support to be confirmed in a first round of voting – a t least 18 of his own MPs refused their support. He was still elected but only in an unprecedented second round.
Support from the Social Democrats is also not a given. As a staunch conservative, Merz has long been somewhat unpopular with the SPD's leftist wing.
This week's events are another indicator that social policy is increasingly becoming a bone of contention between the two governing camps. In recent weeks, the parliament's president, Julia Klöckner, triggered a controversy when she scrapped the parliament's official engagement in Berlin's annual pride parade – much to the dismay of SPD lawmakers.
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