The timeline for the election of new judges to the Federal Constitutional Court has been established. According to a letter from Steffen Bilger, First Parliamentary Managing Director, to the members of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and reported by the Handelsblatt on Friday, the Electoral Committee is scheduled to convene on September 22nd to discuss the candidacy of Sigrid Emmenegger, nominated by the SPD.
This follows an announcement last Wednesday by the parliamentary groups of the CDU/CSU and SPD, who proposed Emmenegger to fill the vacancy left by Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf. Brosius-Gersdorf withdrew from the appointment process regarding the Constitutional Court following a late revocation of previously pledged support from parts of the CDU/CSU group.
Bilger’s letter indicates that the Bundestag will vote on Emmenegger, along with the remaining candidates Günter Spinner and Ann-Kathrin Kaufhold, as judges to the Federal Constitutional Court on September 25th. Electing Constitutional Court judges requires a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag. Consequently, the candidates necessitate not only the votes from the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition factions, but also support from the Green Party and The Left, or alternatively, from the AfD.
However, the proposed timeline has drawn criticism from the Green Party and The Left. Britta Haßelmann, parliamentary group leader of the Greens, told Stern magazine on Wednesday that it was “more than unprofessional” not to await their feedback, given the preceding history. Clara Bünger, The Left’s domestic policy spokesperson, explicitly called for talks with the CDU/CSU.