30 April 2021
Judges for Future
The judgment of 29 April 2021 quashing parts of the Climate Protection Act (CPA) has made history. Not only because the First Senate of the BVerfG put an end to deferring the reduction of greenhouse gasses to the future, or at least to the next government. But because this turn to the future came in the form of a turn to international law and institutions. It is precisely by relying on international law that the court overcomes the counter-majoritarian difficulty commonly tantalizing climate litigation and human rights law generally. The most astonishing fact is, however, that the court entirely avoids the tragic choice between supposedly undemocratic international commitments and the democratic legislature. I argue that it does so by approaching constitutional law in a decidedly postcolonial perspective. Continue reading >>
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15 March 2021
Wieviel Gemeinsinn verträgt die Gesellschaft?
Unter der Überschrift „Wieviel Identität verträgt die Gesellschaft“ hat Wolfgang Thierse in der FAZ zu der Frage Stellung bezogen, wie sich gesellschaftliche Pluralität mit dem für sozialen Zusammenhalt erforderlichen Gemeinsinn verträgt. Er wendet sich gegen eine subjektive Betroffenenperspektive, die der Gesellschaft ihre Sichtweise gewisser Dinge auferlegen wolle. Die Konturen des Gemeinsinns seien im demokratischen Diskurs zu verhandeln, der mit den Anerkennungsansprüchen einzelner gesellschaftlicher Gruppen in Konflikt geraten könne. Gleichzeitig konzediert er allerdings die Notwendigkeit, erfahrene Benachteiligungen zu überwinden. Wie aber lassen sich erfahrene Benachteiligungen überwinden, die der Gemeinsinn billigt oder gar erzeugt? Continue reading >>25 January 2021
Maß für Maaßen
Die AfD wird in dem Verfahren vor dem VG Köln gegen ihre drohende Einstufung als Verdachtsfall durch das Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV)von der Kanzlei Höcker vertreten. Diese Kanzlei führt den ehemaligen Präsidenten des BfV, Hans-Georg Maaßen, ausweislich ihrer Website als „Of Counsel“.Nun untersagt es § 45 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 BRAO den Rechtsanwälten, in einer „Rechtssache“ tätig zu werden, in der sie als Angehörige des öffentlichen Diensts bereits tätig geworden sind. Somit stellen sich zwei Fragen. Continue reading >>
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04 September 2020
Integrative Liberalism: A New Paradigm for the Law of Political Economy?
The new volume on the Law of Political Economy (LPE) devises a highly fruitful analytical approach for anyone interested in a better understanding of Europe’s current economic and political transformation, and in particular, the role of law in it. LPE has an adequate sensorium if one assumes (1) that society is not static but evolving and that theoretical approaches based on ideas of “equilibrium” (or, in the field of law, on “systemic coherence”) are therefore unable to understand social evolution; (2) that social evolution is not merely determined by individual economic interests or by the evolution of capitalism as a whole; (3) that legal structures are among the factors influencing that evolution; and (4) that law, or, to be more precise, public law and legislation (as the contribution by Emilios Christodoulidis insists), might even hold one of the keys to social integration. Continue reading >>
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20 August 2020
Why the Key to the Past Lies in the Future
A few days ago, Namibian President Hage Geinob rejected the German government’s offer for financial compensation for the 1904-07 genocide committed by the German colonial power in what was then called Southwest Africa against the Herero and Nama peoples. Germany refuses to consider the payment as an act of reparation, arguing instead that it would serve the “healing of wounds”. The Namibian side considers this inacceptable, insisting that such payments should not be considered a mere act of grace. I find this terminological dispute highly intriguing and telling. It prompts me to react with three responses. Continue reading >>
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30 May 2020
Constitutional Innovation, Democratic Stagnation?
The recovery plan of the Commission entitled “Next Generation EU” proposes a compromise that goes beyond the ominous lowest common denominator. With a package of EUR 750bn in total, comprising EUR 250bn in loans and the rest in grants, the Commission paves the way for both forward-looking public finance and constitutional innovation. The proposals are masterpieces of high-tech legal engineering. Again, European constitutional law evolves through crisis. Yet, again, it stands to reason how far the proposed instruments will shift the European Union towards enhancing solidarity and democracy. Continue reading >>
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06 April 2020
Corona Constitutional #4: Dies ist nicht die Eurokrise
Warum das Stichwort Corona Bonds so viele falsche Assoziationen weckt, und wie sie beschaffen sein müssten, damit auch Deutschland damit gut klarkommt: Max Steinbeis spricht mit MATTHIAS GOLDMANN über seinen Vorschlag und die damit verknüpften Chancen und Risiken. Continue reading >>05 April 2020
The Case for Corona Bonds
Governments, economists and intellectuals have called for common European bonds or increased own EU funds to address the recession induced by Covid19. Unfortunately, the German government, joined by the other members of the “Frugal Four” (Austria, Finland, the Netherlands), has categorically rejected to look into any such measures and favours using the ESM. This reaction created a déjà vu experience for citizens and governments of the heavily affected southern Member States of the EU. The proposal to use the ESM raises fears of another wave of austerity amounting to yet another lost decade for economic, social, and ecological development in Europe. Continue reading >>27 March 2020
Gestundete Zeit
Christine Lagarde verband die Ankündigung ihres ersten, moderaten Rettungspakets mit der Aufforderung an die Mitgliedstaaten, fiskalische Hilfen bereitzustellen. Die Märkte scheinen sich das Vertrauen in die Fiskalpolitik indessen abgewöhnt zu haben. Da starke geldpolitische Signale zunächst ausblieben, ging die Talfahrt weiter, bis Lagarde im zweiten Versuch in die Fußstapfen ihres Vorgängers trat und die Schleusen öffnete. Continue reading >>27 March 2020
Borrowing Time
When Christine Lagarde announced her first, moderate rescue package, she called upon member states to provide fiscal aid. But the markets showed to have lost confidence in fiscal policy. In the absence of strong monetary policy signals, the slide continued until Lagarde in her second attempt opened the floodgates. Continue reading >>
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