Bundesverfassungsgericht: Erfolg für Linke in Karlsruhe - Reiche muss Video löschen

The ruling of Germany's highest constitutional court, the Bundesverfassungsgericht, has favored the Left party in a case concerning a video posted by Economics Minister Katherina Reiche on her Instagram account. The court ordered Reiche to remove the video from her ministry's profile for the time being, amongst other instructions.

The case revolved around a video from a speech given by Reiche on September 23rd, shortly after the Left party's victory in the Berlin election. In the video, Reiche warned that it was dangerous for Berlin and Germany's investment location for a party to speak about expropriation and to include that in their platform, as well as that the party "openly lives anti-Semitism, which scares Jews in this city."

The Left party had urged Reiche, via her lawyer, to remove the video by September 29th. When this did not happen, they took the matter to the Bundesverfassungsgericht. The court ruled in favor of the Left party, requiring Reiche to remove the video until a decision on the emergency injunction, but only for six months initially. Had the injunction not succeeded, the case could have led to the Left party suffering a "serious irreparable disadvantage in terms of their right to equal participation in political competition," the judges explained their decision, especially considering the ongoing talks for forming a government in Berlin.