Court of Justice puts government action on trial in crisis

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Bückeburg (dpa / lni) - The State Court of Justice has put the practice of the Lower Saxony state government to the test, which had not informed the state parliament about corona regulations at the beginning of the crisis.

The opposition factions of the FDP and the Greens sued the court in Bückeburg because of insufficient information and involvement of the state parliament.

The court heard the case on Thursday, and a decision will be announced

on March 9th.

At the hearing, State Chancellor Jörg Mielke referred to the time pressure under which the ordinances were drawn up.

Since these were constantly updated within a few weeks, parliamentary participation was guaranteed through the regular state parliament sessions.

After the complaint was received by the State Court of Justice, the government changed its practice in the summer and has since informed the state parliament in advance about the content of changes to the Corona regulation.

However, she still does not see any obligation to do so.

The parliamentary manager of the Greens, Helge Limburg, objected to the court that oral information to individual members of parliament, as was done in the early stages of the crisis, did not do justice to the parliament's duty to inform all members of parliament.

In order for the state parliament to be able to campaign for the public's concerns with the drastic Corona ordinances, it must be informed in advance about the content.

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FDP parliamentary group leader Stefan Birker emphasized that the state government had withdrawn from a public debate.

It could contribute to the acceptance of the Corona rules if people see that politicians are arguing about the right course and are looking for the best way.

The President of the State Court of Justice, Thomas Smollich, questioned why the government informed the district council in advance about the draft ordinances, but not the state parliament.

Normally - he made this clear - the state parliament should have been informed about an ordinance of this scope in any case in order to be able to exert influence.

Whether this obligation can, if necessary, also be fulfilled with publication in view of the short-term nature of the Corona ordinances, is one of the points that the court must examine for its decision.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210121-99-116725 / 2

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