Brosius-Gersdorf to step down: SPD politician Woidke calls for three new judge candidates

The election of Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf as a constitutional judge failed in the Bundestag – the CDU/CSU failed to secure a majority for the SPD candidate. The CSU later proposed replacing all three candidates. Contrary to his party's views, Dietmar Woidke also saw this as the solution.

Brandenburg's Minister-President Dietmar Woidke is proposing a complete replacement of the current names in the deadlocked dispute over the appointment of three members to the Federal Constitutional Court. "I believe it is necessary for the parliamentary groups in the Bundestag to quickly find a way out of this situation and propose a solution," said Woidke. "In my view, this solution can only consist of withdrawing all candidates and completely revisiting this process by the parliamentary groups in the German Bundestag."

This puts Woidke in a different position than the SPD at the federal level, which continues to support its candidate, Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf. The process does not cast a positive light on the Berlin coalition at the federal level, Woidke said. "It is incomprehensible to me that a qualified candidate has been discredited in this way by parts of the CDU/CSU. Unfortunately, due to a lack of leadership, it was not possible for the CDU/CSU to pursue the jointly agreed-upon path."

The election of three judges to the Federal Constitutional Court was removed from the Bundestag's agenda at short notice on July 11 due to opposition within the CDU/CSU parliamentary group to Brosius-Gersdorf. The parliamentary group leadership could no longer guarantee approval for her, even though this had been previously promised. The SPD proposed constitutional lawyer Ann-Katrin Kaufhold as a further candidate, while the CDU/CSU nominated federal labor court judge Günter Spinner. CSU state group leader Alexander Hoffmann had proposed a new judicial package – this met with resistance from the SPD and the Greens.

There are reservations about Brosius-Gersdorf within the CDU/CSU, among other things because of what some members of parliament consider to be her overly liberal stance on abortion and her positive stance on mandatory vaccination during the coronavirus crisis. Since 2021, Brosius-Gersdorf has held the chair of public law, particularly constitutional law and social law, at the University of Potsdam.

The Brandenburg Minister-President appealed to all parties involved to reach an agreement. He advised involving the opposition parties, except for the AfD, early on. "The parties needed for a two-thirds majority must be involved early on – these are the Left Party and the Greens."