At the FAZ Congress, the President of the Federal Constitutional Court, Stephan Harbarth, countered the thesis that the law is in a global crisis.

Rather, the global outrage over the Ukraine war is an expression of the strength of the law.

When asked by FAZ editor Reinhard Müller, the President of the Constitutional Court admitted that, with regard to the Ukraine war, there was a risk that the law would ultimately be rewarded.

"But there is also a chance that justice will be established," said Harbarth, referring to international efforts to punish war crimes.

These would be of paramount importance.

Stephen Klenner

Editor FAZ objection.

  • Follow I follow

With regard to the right-wing development in the pandemic, Harbarth criticized the fact that many critics of the corona measures had “lost proportion and balance”.

One is “far away from a corona dictatorship”.

At all times during the pandemic, courts - including the Federal Constitutional Court - had respected fundamental rights and maintained the necessary distance from politics.

In the area of ​​freedom of religion and freedom of assembly, the judges in Karlsruhe “set the course early on, which were then taken up by the administrative courts”.

However, one should not expect Karlsruhe to make all decisions about the pandemic.

"We are not the better legislator," said the court president.

In the pandemic, no “exceptional constitutional right” applies.

Harbarth defended the Federal Constitutional Court's recent decision on the Bavarian Constitutional Protection Act, parts of which Karlsruhe had rejected.

"We don't need well-fortified democracy or freedom, we need both," said Harbarth.

That was expressed in the Karlsruhe judgment.

Harbarth recalled that the Karlsruhe judges had not fully upheld the constitutional complaint, but only objected to individual provisions of the law.

The court president acknowledged the climate decision of the Federal Constitutional Court, with which the judges in Karlsruhe had committed politicians to long-term climate protection rules.

“The speed with which the legislature reacted shows that the legislature was not overburdened.

I don't think we've overreached the legislature," Harbarth said.

It was about securing the freedom rights of future generations.

However, how this is done in individual cases remains a matter for Parliament.