Federal minister of the interior horst seehofer (CSU) has the compatibility of the duties of civil servants and party membership examined.
"The vetting applies in general, to right-wing and left-wing radicals alike, regardless of the latest afd decision by the federal office for the protection of the constitution," seehofer (CSU) told the newspapers of the funke media group. The interior minister received praise for this from the afd party. The civil service association dbb pointed out that the legal situation was already clear.
In mid-january, the federal office for the protection of the constitution declared the afd as a whole to be a "pruffall". The authorities want to take a closer look at the right-wing nationalist "wing" of the afd and the young alternative. Both were classified as "suspicious cases". Against this background, seehofer was asked about the compatibility of party membership with civil servant status or employment in the civil service.
"This is a question that we are still examining very closely at the moment," seehofer replied. They are often brought to the attention of his ministry. "So i have asked my house to review this question of membership and what obligations arise for a civil servant in terms of political restraint very carefully for me again – in four to eight weeks."
LEGAL SITUATION:
Civil servants are required by law to be neutral and independent of political and economic influence. However, civil servants are not forbidden from political activity: outside the service, they can become involved in a party that is not unconstitutional. Even outside the service, however, they were not allowed to contradict the constitutional order. Civil servants can also hold a deputy mandate – during this time, however, they must resign from the service. Civil servants do not have a contractual employment relationship that could be terminated. They are usually appointed for life and can only be removed from office if trust in them has been lost.
KNOWN TRAPS:
The removal of afd member of parliament and former public prosecutor thomas seitz from his civil service job made headlines in september. The judicial service court in karlsruhe had come to the conclusion that seitz had violated the regulations on civil servant status. Seitz had posted terms such as "quotenneger" and "gesinnungsjustiz" among others on the internet during election campaigns between 2015 and 2017. He had announced that he would carry the legal dispute through all further instances. In may, it became known that the federal ministry of transportation was taking action against a suspected "reichsburger" who worked as a civil servant for the federal railroad administration. At the end of 2017, the federal administrative court ruled that a right-wing extremist berlin police officer be removed from civil service status. "The duty of loyalty of a civil servant can also be violated by the wearing of tattoos with unconstitutional content," the court says.
POSITION OF THE CIVIL SERVICE ASSOCIATION:
"There is no place for enemies of the constitution in the public service," states the chairman of the dbb beamtenbund and tarifunion, ulrich silberbach. "Anyone who works for this state must stand on the ground of the free democratic basic order," he told dpa. "Civil servants are even sworn in directly on the basic law." Should they paint or act in an anti-constitutional manner, this will be examined individually. There would be disciplinary proceedings – and even removal from office if necessary.
REACTIONS TO SEEHOFER:
Afd leader jorg meuthen buried seehofer’s initiative: "in particular, civil servants and public service employees who are members of the SPD, the greens and the left should be checked for possible contacts with the left-wing extremist and violent antifa milieu."FDP interior politician benjamin strasser said: "this test makes sense, is long overdue and that it should now take weeks is once again typical of seehofer."The citizens had a right to expect "that our civil servants not only stand on the ground of the constitution, but also act according to its principles and clearly and unequivocally commit themselves to our free democratic basic order".
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