Issues of implementation of the principle of loyalty to the Federation in the Federal Republic of Germany

The constitutional principle of loyalty to the federation has a long tradition in German state law, which dates back to the formation of the German Empire in 1871. This principle establishes a constitutional and legal obligation, according to which the lands must remain faithful to each other and to the Federation in the same way as the Federation in relation to the lands. The decisions of the German Federal Constitutional Court are of great importance in the implementation of the principle of loyalty to the federation. In 1953, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia established wage rates for its state civil servants. The latter proved to be so profitable that they exceeded the salary levels of federal government civil servants. In this regard, the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the Ministry of Finance, appealed to the Federal Constitutional Court, pointing out that with the adoption of such a law, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia violated the obligations arising from the framework prescriptions of paragraph 1 of Article 75 of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany. As a result, the Law of the Federal Republic of Germany on Amendments and additions to the rules of remuneration of December 6, 1951 was declared unconstitutional due to the "unacceptable restriction of the legislative freedom of the lands." Then the question arises whether the state of North Rhine-Westphalia abused this freedom. Commenting on this issue, the German Federal Constitutional Court clarified that the individual solution of issues related to the organization and conduct of public service at the regional level is of particular interest to the lands. In order to preserve the "individuality of regional civil servants," the system of remuneration for civil servants in a particular land is also important. The complete unification of the procedure for paying salaries to civil servants, which the Federal Government is obviously striving for, contradicts both the nature of the federal state and the constitutional order of the Federal Republic of Germany. Ultimately, the Federal Constitutional Court found no reason to believe that the State of North Rhine-Westphalia had abused its legislative competence. First, lands cannot in principle be limited by federal framework provisions when it comes to establishing a system of remuneration for their civil servants. Secondly, the average increase in salaries of regional civil servants after the adoption of the relevant law by the federal land will not have a significant impact on the financial policy of the remaining lands and the Federation as a whole, which the Federal Government was so afraid of. Thus, the principle of federal loyalty is designed to ensure the stability of federal relations and strengthen the legal link between the Federation and its subjects: it assumes the obligation of participants in federal relations to mutual respect, support and partnership. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

Keywords

Authors

References