• Home /
• News /
• 2013 /
• October /
• GERMANY: State surveillance of MPs: Press release on judgment of the German Federal Constitutional Court

GERMANY: State surveillance of MPs: Press release on judgment of the German Federal Constitutional Court

10 October 2013

On 17 September 2013 the German Federal Constitutional Court decided that the observation (surveillance) of the former Left Party MP Bodo Ramelow by the domestic secret service, the so-called Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz), is disproportionate and violates the MP’s autonomy as guaranteed by article 38 (1) of the Basic Law.

Although the Court did not prohibit the observation of MPs in general, it noted that keeping dossiers on members of the legislative branch of government by an executive agency risks unbalancing the separation of powers. Hence, the judges noted that an observation is only justified if an MP seems likely to abuse his or her seat for an “active and aggressive fight” against the “free and democratic order”.

In the case of Bodo Ramelow, lower courts had already confirmed that the MP was not suspected of working against the German constitutional order even if certain factions of the Left Party are suspected to do so. Ramelow, who joined the party in 1994, was continuously observed (surveilled) by the secret service since 1986, and when he became Member of the Federal Parliament in 2005.

Ramelow’s individual complaint against the secret service practice was turned down by the Federal Administrative Court which now has to revise its decision. However, the comprehensive complaint by the Left Party in Federal Parliament against the surveillance of more than half of its MPs, challenging the relevant provisions of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution Act, was rejected by the Constitutional Court for formalistic reasons.

See the text: Observation of Parliamentarians by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is Subject to Strict Proportionality Requirements (pdf)