Grundgesetz verteidigen: Union droht Berlin und Sachsen-Anhalt mit Verfassungsklagen

Several Union faction leaders in the federal states have threatened potential new governments in Berlin and Sachsen-Anhalt with lawsuits at the Federal Constitutional Court. Their message is clear: no federal state is exempt from the constitution. If radical or extremist governments pass unconstitutional laws, we will exhaust all constitutional means to prevent it. Federal responsibility means defending the Grundgesetz against its enemies.

The message comes from the faction chairmen of Niedersachsen, Bayern, and Thüringen. Protecting the constitutional order is the task of all federal states. Federalism means freedom to shape politics and responsibility for our shared constitutional order, it continues in a paper obtained by the German Press Agency. The responsibility does not end at the state borders.

Those who govern a federal state are bound by the Grundgesetz and thus by the rule of law. Particularly radical or extremist parties should not be given a free pass to exceed constitutional limits through election results.

The Union faction leaders address the potential new governments in their letter. The governments in Berlin, led by the left parties, and in Sachsen-Anhalt, led by the AfD, could emerge without successful coalition negotiations. In both states, no coalition talks have been concluded since the elections. Lawsuits could be filed against excessive debt, a constitutionally questionable foreign voter registration law, and the planned communalization of apartments.

In Sachsen-Anhalt, the AfD's announcement to abolish compulsory schooling raises fundamental questions about its compatibility with our constitution. This concerns the community of states.

Both the CDU and CSU fear significant weakening or even abolition of the constitutional protection. "In Berlin, a decisive weakening of the security authorities and, in particular, the police is also threatened," warns Sebastian Lechner, chairman of the Union-Fraktionsvorsitzendenkonferenz and head of the CDU faction in the Lower Saxony Landtag.

CSU's Landtagsfraktionschef Klaus Holetschek called for norms control as "the sharpest sword we have in the federal rule of law." Violating the Grundgesetz, he said, would have to be reckoned with.