Overview

• Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil insists that the Union’s plagiarism concerns over SPD nominee Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf are unfounded and calls for a repeat vote to elect her to the Federal Constitutional Court
• The CDU/CSU parliamentary group remains reluctant to back Brosius-Gersdorf, leaving three judicial seats unfilled and deepening the coalition stalemate
• Chancellor Friedrich Merz downplayed the judge-election impasse as non-crisis and signaled that all options, including withdrawing or replacing candidates, are still on the table
• Klingbeil warned that coalition discipline on future tough votes, such as the agreed reform of the debt brake, is essential to uphold inter-party commitments
• With the Bundestag unable to secure the required two-thirds majority, the government may invoke the Bundesrat’s newly introduced fallback procedure to complete the appointments