After Brosius-Gersdorf steps back, what follows next?

In a surprising turn of events, Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, the SPD's candidate for the Federal Constitutional Court, has announced her withdrawal from the race. Brosius-Gersdorf, a law professor from Potsdam, accused the Union of failing to engage substantively with her topics and theses, and not extending an invitation to a faction meeting until the last minute.

Her withdrawal comes at a critical time, as the German coalition parties (SPD and CDU/CSU) had planned to achieve a two-thirds majority for electing judges to the Federal Constitutional Court through an "overall package" agreement among themselves. However, the withdrawal of Brosius-Gersdorf, due to strong opposition from a CDU/CSU faction, has disrupted this plan.

Lars Klingbeil, SPD leader and Vice Chancellor, has demanded that the Union ensures such incidents do not happen again. Brosius-Gersdorf's withdrawal may solve the blockade of the judges' election, but it presents the coalition with a new problem: finding the necessary two-thirds majority in the Bundestag for their candidates.

The opposition from the CDU/CSU faction was primarily due to Brosius-Gersdorf's views on abortion, possible vaccine mandate, and plagiarism concerns. Parts of the Union faction had reservations about her nomination, and the Union faction leader, Jens Spahn (CDU), is now being criticised by the Greens and Left for his role in the judges' election process.

The Greens and the Left want to ensure that the candidates nominated by the Union and the SPD, Günther Spinner and Ann-Katrin Kaufhold, find majorities in the Bundestag without the AfD. However, both the Union and the other factions aim to avoid depending on AfD votes for the election of their candidates.

The SPD expects more coalition loyalty and is reconsidering nominations to maintain the two-thirds majority required for electing judges to the Federal Constitutional Court without involving opposition or risking coalition collapse. The dispute has highlighted internal divisions within the coalition, complicating the ability to secure the two-thirds majority without relying on opposition votes.

Brosius-Gersdorf's bitterness is evident in her statement announcing her withdrawal, where she expresses gratitude to the SPD, Greens, and Left for their support. She also accused disinformation and defamation campaigns organised on social networks and partly generated by AI.

The coalition dispute over the judges' election could set in motion a development whose impact on democracy is not foreseeable. Clara Bünger, a left-wing politician, accuses the Federal Constitutional Court of being damaged due to the behaviour of the Union faction and Jens Spahn. Britta Haßelmann and Katharina Dröge, Green faction leaders, label Spahn's behaviour as "inappropriate."

Spahn, however, has acknowledged the situation and promised to find a joint solution with the coalition partner. The Union faction, however, rejected talks with the Left, whose votes could then be necessary. The Left also demands that the coalition agrees on common candidates and discusses it.

Brosius-Gersdorf stated that she wants to protect the other two candidates and prevent the coalition dispute over the judges' election from escalating. As the situation unfolds, the future of the German coalition and the judiciary hangs in the balance.

[1] The Local [2] Deutsche Welle [3] The Guardian [4] BBC News [5] Reuters

The ongoing dispute over policy-and-legislation, particularly the judges' election to the Federal Constitutional Court, has become a significant point of politics, with parties trying to navigate their positions carefully to maintain their general-news standings.
The politics surrounding the judges' election have exposed deep internal divisions within the German coalition, prompting the SPD to reconsider its policy-and-legislation approaches in order to maintain the necessary two-thirds majority without facing opposition or risking coalition collapse.