Appointment of judges: Opposition requests current hour
The dispute over the appointment of the head of the North Rhine-Westphalian Higher Administrative Court will once again occupy parliament. The opposition has requested a current affairs debate on the case for this Friday. The background to this is that the head of the state chancellery, Nathanael Liminski (CDU), stated during questioning in parliament on Wednesday evening that he had spoken to two of the three candidates for the post of court president himself.
Both had approached him and he had the impression that they had each wanted to promote themselves as the right candidate for the position, said Liminski. In his view, this was a legitimate reason for making contact.
The opposition sees this as fuelling suspicions of hanky-panky and political influence. Liminski denied this. He had not intervened in the procedure and had not become active after the talks. He had not cast a vote on the appointment and would not trust himself to do so. There are experts for that.
NRW Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Greens) is accused of having helped an acquaintance and former judge colleague to one of the highest judicial offices in the state. The cabinet decided on the appointment on August 8. Two administrative courts had subsequently halted the appointment because the unsuccessful applicants had filed a lawsuit. The Higher Administrative Court itself must now decide on the matter.
Limbach says that the applicant emerged as the best candidate from the evaluation process carried out by his company's HR department. He had accepted the vote without any changes and had no particular close relationship with her. He also contradicted reports that he had advised the two losing candidates to withdraw their applications before the evaluation process was completed.
The opposition believes that the involvement of the head of the state chancellery in discussing the candidates for the North Rhine-Westphalian Higher Administrative Court position may perpetuate suspicions of political influence, seeking justice and transparency in this matter within the context of parliamentary proceedings.
Given the ongoing controversy surrounding the appointment of a superior judicial office in NRW, the government and parliament must ensure that the process upholds the values of impartiality, fairness, and equality under the rule of law.
Source: www.dpa.com
