FOGLI DI LAVORO per il Diritto internazionale 3 ... - Giurisprudenza

FOGLI DI LAVORO per il Diritto internazionale 3/2008
coverage of the topic both in legal literature and in the general
media. The Government pointed out that the case had been
heard by the full Chamber – as opposed to a panel of three
judges – which would not have been the case if the
constitutional issue addressed had been simple, and that the
applicant associations had submitted extensive material to the
Federal Constitutional Court.
52. The Government emphasised the Federal Constitutional
Court's special role as “guardian of the Constitution” as
recognised by the Court in its previous case-law. They further
stressed the unique political background of German
reunification, which had occurred just one and a half years
before the present complaint was lodged. By way of example,
they presented a list of twelve decisions relating to reunification
issues taken by the Federal Constitutional Court's first Chamber
between July 1991 and July 1997. Furthermore, that court had
had to decide on a great number of other complaints of
considerable political and social importance as they concerned a
great number of citizens, which had been given priority.
53. The Government emphasised that the length of the
proceedings could not be attributed to the fact that the Federal
Constitutional Court was overburdened or that its ability to
function was restricted. It pointed out that that court had taken
adequate steps to address the problem of its extraordinary
workload following German reunification, ensuring that an
average of some 88 % of constitutional complaints received
between 1994 and 2005 had been dealt with within the first two
years and that only 4.4 % were still pending after more than four
years.
54. According to the Government, the applicant associations
themselves had caused delays in the proceedings before the
Federal Constitutional Court by submitting their comments to
the Government's submissions of 4 November 1992 only eleven
months later, namely on 21 September 1993. Furthermore, they
had submitted extensive written observations throughout the
proceedings.
55. As to what was at stake for the applicant associations, the
Government considered that the level of alleged interference
with their freedom of religion was comparatively low. It was
further diminished by the fact that the Government, following
191