2024-08-05 14:33:39
Electoral law ruling
What else could threaten the traffic light coalition before the Constitutional Court
Updated on 30.07.2024Reading time: 3 min.
First the budget ruling, now the ruling on electoral reform: the traffic light coalition has had to look anxiously towards Karlsruhe several times. And there could be more trouble ahead.
Following the ruling on electoral reform, the traffic light coalition is faced with a decision: elections will take place in just over a year. If anything is to be changed in the electoral law, there is not much time left. But other lawsuits in Karlsruhe could cause the SPD, Greens and FDP even greater difficulties before the federal election.
Since 2021, only high earners and companies have to pay the solidarity surcharge; it has been abolished for 90 percent of taxpayers. FDP MPs took this to court when their party was not yet part of the federal government. They argue that when the Solidarity Pact for the Reconstruction of East Germany expired at the end of 2019, the solidarity surcharge should have been abolished completely.
The Karlsruhe judges are aiming for a decision this year – and, just like last year’s budget ruling, it could spoil the traffic light coalition’s ability to pass the federal budget in late autumn.
The federal government has earmarked solidarity surcharge revenues of 12.75 billion euros for the coming year. If the Constitutional Court were to overturn the surcharge, it would tear a hole in the budget for 2025. But it could get even worse: the judges could decide that the state would have to pay back revenues from the solidarity surcharge from previous years. That would be around 65 billion euros since 2020.
Last year, the Federal Constitutional Court put a stop to the adoption of the Heating Act before the summer recess – the reason given was that the rights of MPs were not adequately protected. Due to the tight schedule in the legislative process, CDU MP Thomas Heilmann had filed an application for an interim injunction. However, no decision has yet been made on the so-called main application.
If the court rules in Heilmann’s favor, this could pave the way for constitutional complaints against the Heating Act – which could be repealed in the worst case scenario for the traffic light coalition. Heilmann had stressed that his application was not directed against the substantive aim of the law, but against the “very inadequate” parliamentary procedure. In the proceedings, the Constitutional Court could set up guard rails beyond the Heating Act to ensure that MPs are given enough time to deliberate in legislative procedures.
The traffic light coalition has initiated two increases in student loans. The second increase only came about after a lot of pressure from student representatives, unions and also the SPD and Greens in the coalition. The additional annual expenditure for this increase for the coming winter semester is in the mid-three-digit million range.
If the traffic light coalition is unlucky, it will have to mobilize even more money for the Bafög: A case has been pending before the Federal Constitutional Court for some time, and it could be decided this year. A psychology student complains that the monthly allowance set out in the Federal Training Assistance Act (Bafög) is too low and violates the basic right to a dignified minimum standard of living.
The lawsuit dates back a few years and relates to the Bafög rates in 2014/2015. But the court could make fundamental statements about the calculation of the training aid. The German Student Union repeatedly criticizes that the Bafög rate – from the winter semester of 2024/2025 it is to be 475 euros per month plus 380 euros flat-rate housing allowance – is chronically too low, even in comparison to the citizen’s allowance.
The Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag is suing because of the failed establishment of an investigative committee into the tax scandal at Warburg Bank. The reason: the applicant MPs and the parliamentary group had their rights violated by a resolution of the Bundestag that prevented the establishment of the committee.
The coalition factions SPD, Greens and FDP voted against the Union’s initiative. The committee of inquiry is expected to examine the role of Olaf Scholz as former head of government of Hamburg, former Federal Minister of Finance and current Chancellor. The SPD politician is accused of having influenced the “Cum-Ex” tax scandal at the Hamburg Warburg Bank as mayor. He has always denied this.