The Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ) is examining whether the editorial offer “Libra – the legal briefing”, which is published by juris GmbH, is constitutional.
Juris is majority state-owned and in its 2022 Sustainability Report under the item “Political influence” speaks of its proximity to the federal government and the ministries.
Violation of state distance?
"Libra" was launched a few months after Marco Buschmann was sworn in as Minister of Justice and often praises his work (FAZ, January 11).
The CDU member of the Bundestag, Martin Plum, sees this as a possible violation of the principle of being remote from the state.
For this purpose, the BMJ is now having an independent report prepared by a university lecturer.
An award procedure has already been carried out.
The ministry does not name the expert, which irritates Plum.
He complained to the FAZ that the review only begins after weeks of criticism from the public and the opposition.
It is also astonishing that the ministry, for which hundreds of lawyers with honors degrees work, cannot resolve such a simple question itself.
External appraisals are expensive.
As far as can be seen, these costs are borne by the BMJ and thus the taxpayer and not by Juris GmbH.