BERLIN, July 13. /TASS/. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said there is no crisis in the ruling coalition of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), despite the differences caused by the election of judges to the Federal Constitutional Court.
"Things did not go well on Friday, but this is not a crisis, this is not a crisis of democracy, this is not a crisis of government," Merz said in an interview with ARD TV channel. "We’ve failed to elect three judges of the Federal Constitutional Court in the first round. It's unpleasant, but it will not upset us. Opinions may differ and not all members of parliament may be of the same opinion as the faction leader, but this becomes apparent only at the last moment," said Merz.
On July 11, the Bundestag disrupted the planned procedure for appointing judges to the Federal Constitutional Court for the first time in 76 years as the CDU/CSU faction opposed one of the candidates from the Social Democrats, Professor Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, accusing her of plagiarism in her doctoral thesis. Voting on all three candidates was canceled, the Bundestag sitting was suspended, and the election of judges was postponed until the fall.
Merz noted that it was necessary to anticipate such discontent.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in an interview with ZDF TV channel, said that the ruling coalition had harmed itself by the arguing. He also called for a "speedy" decision on the candidacy of judges of the Constitutional Court.