The Federal Constitutional Court has dismissed a claim of the left-wing group in the Bundestag against the Bundeswehr deployment to combat the terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS). It rejected the application against the Federal Government and the Bundestag as inadmissible.
It appeared "excluded from the outset" that rights of the Bundestag were injured, the court said. A general control of foreign or defense policy measures of the Federal Government is not possible in the organic dispute (Az 2 BvE 2/16).
Germany has participated in the anti-IS coalition with its approximately 80 member states since the end of 2015. The Bundeswehr is currently involved in the mission with "Tornado" reconnaissance jets and tankers, as well as military instructors in Iraq.
Controversial use
The lawsuit was filed in 2016 in Karlsruhe. According to the case law of the Constitutional Court, Germany may participate in military operations abroad, which take place within a "system of mutual collective security" - for example, on the basis of a UN mandate or a NATO decision. The left thinks that a loose alliance like the anti-IS coalition with its approximately 80 member states is not such a system.
The operation is now controversial within the coalition. Actually, the "Tornado" mission should be finished already this year. After a long period of resistance, the SPD finally managed to agree to a last extension until the end of March 2020.
The Cabinet has already made its decision. But the last word has the Bundestag. His vote is due at the end of October. The Karlsruhe decision thus falls right into the parliamentary process.
