Dresden (dpa / sn) – Saxony wants to take more decisive action against extremists in the civil service and has formulated eight specific points in an action plan. Among other things, it provides for the extension of the deadlines for the suspicion of misconduct in the Federal Disciplinary Act and the possibility of a temporary reduction in remuneration if those affected are prohibited from conducting their official business under the German Judges Act. This was announced by the Saxony Ministry of Justice on Thursday. Furthermore, the right of deputies to return to the civil service after their mandate has expired is to be modified and the supervision of the Ministry of Justice in the event of violations of the duty to comply with the constitution is to be strengthened.
“The package of measures ties in with the intensive legal policy debate after the Bundestag elections in autumn 2021. This revolved around the question of whether members of parliament should be allowed to return to public service after the end of their mandate if considerable doubts arose in the course of their political work because of their loyalty to the constitution,” explained Saxon Minister of Justice Katja Meier (Greens). Saxony had recently submitted some of the proposals to the Justice Ministers’ Conference.
The background to the considerations is also the case of the judge and former AfD member of the Bundestag Jens Maier. After losing his mandate in 2021, the lawyer had applied to return to the Saxon judiciary. The service court for judges temporarily prohibited Maier from conducting official business in March, with full salaries. On December 1, it wants to discuss the transfer of Maier into early retirement requested by the Ministry of Justice “to prevent a serious impairment of the administration of justice”.
