Luxury constitutional judge: With government jet to Merkel dinner

The most sacred task of the Federal Constitutional Court is to protect the Basic Law from the government. In the past there were always violent arguments between Bonn and Karlsruhe. Since Angela Merkel installed her confidante Stephan Harbarth, former deputy head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, at the head of the court, it has seemed like an extension of the government. Critics say it protects the Basic Law less from the powerful than vice versa.

So it is hardly surprising that one embarrassment after the other comes to the public: For example, a recent meeting with the judges in the Chancellor's Office under Merkel, at which details of ongoing proceedings were also discussed. Imagine that in a different branch of the judiciary - one side having a leisurely dinner and chatting about the case with the judges who judge them. The suspicion that there are dark spots in the biography of the supreme constitutional guardian is also embarrassing. In particular, it is unclear who were the reviewers who were decisive for his appointment as honorary professor (University of Heidelberg).

Unfortunately, the latest report fits the picture very well. “Between 2017 and 2021, President Stephan Harbarth and other judges flew a total of 38 times with the German Air Volunteer Service, often back and forth,” reports the Berliner Zeitung: “Members of the Constitutional Court paid visits to the Israeli, Irish and British Supreme Court, Stephan Harbarth took part in conferences in Senegal and Georgia. However, most flights went to Berlin.”

Climate protection hypocrites
To Berlin at  676 kilometers of distance by plane, instead of taking the train? In times when everyone is only talking about climate protection and reducing emissions these judges even decided that fundamental rights could be restricted for climate protection – but apparently not for themselves when traveling. "The Constitutional Court announced that in addition to a meeting with the President of the Bundestag, a New Year's reception at the Federal President's, there were also two meetings with the former Chancellor Angela Merkel and another with 'members of the Federal Government'."

Which is suspicious per se. But why fly to Berlin on the government plane instead of taking the train? Such privileges for those who are supposed to control the government, from the government?

Different tempos in travel and judgments
The Berliner Zeitung correctly writes: “What is plausible for ministers and other top politicians is surprising for judges. They are not subject to the same time constraints as top politicians. On the contrary. They like to take their time, sometimes it takes years to make judgments.”

No wonder that the court came up with something to justify the flights: “If scheduled flights were used for the outward and return flight, the appointment with the federal government would not be possible or would only be possible with a considerable loss of time. There are no scheduled flight connections to Berlin from Karlsruhe Baden-Airpark and Mannheim airports on June 30, 2021. The same applies to the return flight. A scheduled flight from Frankfurt or Stuttgart is out of the question given the short time available and the long travel times – also due to frequent traffic disruptions.”

The file, from which the Berlin lawyer Niko Härting quotes, according to the Berliner Zeitung also says: “It should also be taken into account that the delegation of the BVerfG will be exposed to a far lower risk of infection when using the air force compared to using a scheduled flight connection.” In addition, they wanted to avoid wasting time due to construction work.

“But why are construction work and corona such travel obstacles for the constitutional judges?” asks the paper. Particularly: 15 judges flew on government jets to get to the aforementioned dinner in the Chancellery. With a private company, such a flight alone would have a cost 35,000 to 40,000 euros per hour. "Since the judges are not subject to a tight schedule, it is surprising that they have to fly for tens of thousands of euros instead of traveling earlier, for example," complained the paper. According to the guidelines of the flight readiness, the "costs caused by the flight must be in reasonable proportion to the importance and urgency of the official business and the associated federal interests".

But the taxpayer pays for it.

With the ICE trains, which is very convenient to travel and work in, the direct journey to Berlin takes around five and a half hours. With an overnight stay, a solution that is many times cheaper and more environmentally friendly than an extra flight. The ICE from Karlsruhe takes one hour to get to Frankfurt Airport, from which there are scheduled flights to Berlin; by car it is just under an hour and a half. It is less than an hour to Stuttgart Airport. For comparison: It takes 45 minutes to get to Mannheim, where the judges also took off with government aircraft – almost 15 minutes less than the ICE to Frankfurt without traffic jams.

The reasoning of the constitutional guardians - and with it their credibility - collapses like a house of cards.

On the other hand, so many things about the Federal Constitutional Court and its new proximity to the government are becoming even clearer than it already was.

Source: Reitschuster