Vereinsverbote zum Schutze der Menschenwürde

Mit dem Verbot der „COMPACT-Magazin GmbH“ und der „CONSPECT FILM GmbH“ ist nach Ansicht der zuständigen Bundesinnenministerin Nancy Faeser „ein harter Schlag gegen die rechtsextremistische Szene“ erfolgt. Als in der Verfassung vorgesehenes Instrument spricht vieles dafür, Vereinsverbote angesichts der aktuellen Herausforderungen, denen sich der freiheitliche Verfassungsstaat gegenübersieht, verstärkt in den Blick zu nehmen.  Der schlichte Hinweis auf die grundrechtliche Gewährleistung der Meinungs- oder Pressefreiheit, so die These dieses Textes, reicht auch im Kontext von Vereinsverboten nicht aus, um die Schutzmechanismen der streitbaren Demokratie beiseitezuschieben.

19. Juli 2024

, , , ,

Verbotene Vereinsmedien

In der Auseinandersetzung mit den Gegnern der Verfassung beweist und bewährt sich der demokratische Rechtsstaat. Auch dort, wo der Kampf gegen die freiheitliche demokratische Grundordnung zweifelsfrei festgestellt ist, sind die Voraussetzungen und Grenzen des Grundgesetzes selbst und der Gesetze zum Schutz der Verfassung einzuhalten. Wenig kann den Verfassungsschutz stärker delegitimieren als administrative Maßnahmen, welche rechtswidrig ergehen und später von den Gerichten beanstandet werden.

17. Juli 2024

, , ,

Deutschlands Filibuster

Filibuster und Schuldenbremse tragen auf beiden Seiten des Atlantiks zu gesetzgeberischem Versagen bei. Dieses Versagen ist eine der Ursachen für die antidemokratischen Tendenzen. Die Entwicklungen der vergangenen Jahre in den USA sollten dem demokratischen Spektrum in Deutschland Warnung sein. Wer in Ansehung dieser Eindrücke eine symbolische schwarze Null über die realen Herausforderungen des 21. Jahrhunderts priorisiert, macht sich zum Steigbügelhalter deutscher Trumpisten. Die Europawahl war nur ein Warnschuss.

16. Juli 2024

,

Germany’s Filibuster

Filibuster and debt brake contribute to legislative failure on both sides of the Atlantic. This failure is one of the causes of anti-democratic tendencies. The developments of recent years in the USA should serve as a warning to everyone in the democratic spectrum. Those who, in light of these developments, prioritize a symbolic balanced budget over addressing the real challenges of the 21st century are paving the way for German Trumpists. The European election was just a warning shot.

16. Juli 2024

,

Ensuring the Mission of Public Service Broadcasters

Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) are publicly organised and funded broadcasters, organised by each of the EU’s Member State with a great degree of discretion and under a unique legal framework. Politicised interventions and the decline of PSBs’ independence threaten their ability to adequately perform their role and offer citizens a high-quality public service which meets the public’s democratic and cultural needs. The politicisation of PSBs by national authorities, coupled with the increasing concerns about media freedom, shows that some type of regulatory intervention is necessary.

16. Juli 2024

,

Biting More Than It Can Chew

Among (too) many other things, the recently adopted European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) introduced an assessment of the impact of media market concentration on media pluralism and editorial independence. It thereby aims to address the growing economic threats media pluralism and freedom have been facing all across Europe. However, when considering recent media merger cases in Poland as well as the substantive and institutional competition law framework, it is uncertain whether the Act will provide efficient solutions.

16. Juli 2024

,

Digital News Aggregators, Media Plurality and the Right to Information

&

The advent of the digital economy has brought many challenges to traditional business models, leading to new issues that go beyond pure market problems. This is also true for the news media industry since the emergence and rapid expansion of digital platforms like Google and Facebook. While the latter, in contrast to press publishers, do not produce any news content themselves, they have become digital news aggregators and first contact points for readers of online news. In this post, we reflect on the existing approaches towards addressing the bargaining imbalance between press publishers and digital news aggregators. We argue that the most adequate measure in addressing this imbalance would be a regulatory instrument such as a bargaining code.

16. Juli 2024

, , ,

Taking Extra Care of the Media?

The adoption of the European Media Freedom Act broke new ground in the EU’s approach to media law. Amongst other goals, the EMFA seeks to address the risk of restricting media content by online platforms by envisaging the special, privileged, treatment of media service providers in the area of content moderation. This post discusses the extent of the privilege granted to media service providers and the relationship between the EMFA and the DSA.

16. Juli 2024

Why and How the Hungarian Presidency Must Be Stopped

It took less than a week for Viktor Orbán to make the worst predictions about the Hungarian Presidency of the Council become true. Yet with a twist. If many had warned about the danger that such a Presidency would have paralysed the internal operation of the EU, nobody expected this could also cause confusion and damage to the Union’s foreign policy. How the EU Member States will react to it may define the overall credibility of the Union on the international stage, particularly at a time when it increasingly faces significant challenges both from within and the outside.

15. Juli 2024

,