The COVID-19 Crisis from a German, European and International Perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic presents unprecedented constitutional challenges to states worldwide, and to their regional and international cooperation. The Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) and Verfassungsblog are bringing together internationally recognized experts in a three-part online discussion series to reflect on these challenges and ways to address them.

Session I: "Schaffen wir das?" – COVID-19 as a Crisis for German Law and Politics

In Germany, fundamental rights are currently being curtailed on a massive scale for what the great majority deems the "greater good" – the stability of the public health system. Moreover, the legislator enacted amendments to the Infektionsschutzgesetz that provide the Federal Minister of Health with sweeping quasi-legislative powers in case of a national epidemic. As the measures are slowly being lifted, this panel will draw preliminary conclusions from the current crisis and discuss what the German constitutional order and the German political system will look like after COVID-19.

Participants:

SABINE LEUTHEUSSER-SCHNARRENBERGER (former German Federal Minister of Justice)

COVID-19 and the German Constitutional Order

PIERRE THIELBÖRGER / BENEDIKT BEHLERT (IFHV / Ruhr University Bochum)

The Emergency Regulations of the Grundgesetz: Fit for a Pandemic?

CHRISTOPH MÖLLERS (Humboldt University Berlin / Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin)

The Bundestag and COVID-19

ANDREA RÖMMELE (Hertie School Berlin)

COVID-19 and its implications for the German political (party) system

ANIKA KLAFKI (Friedrich Schiller University of Jena)

The amendments to the Infektionsschutzgesetz: an antidote with deadly side effects?

Moderation: Maximilian Steinbeis

 

Link (Verfassungsblog)