The trial against former German Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) and his former state secretary Gerhard Schulz began Monday in Berlin, where both face charges of making false statements to a parliamentary inquiry committee investigating the collapse of Germany’s truck toll system.
Scheuer, who served as transport minister from 2018 to 2021, is accused of falsely denying that the toll operator had offered to delay contract signing until the European Court of Justice ruled on its legality. The EU had declared the toll system illegal in 2019, leading to a €243 million compensation payment to the operator after the contract was signed before the ruling. Prosecutors allege Scheuer lied about a key detail, whether he remembered the offer, when testifying before the inquiry.
The German Jurists’ Association (Deutscher Juristentag, DJT) this week adopted several reforms in its annual meeting in Erfurt, including stricter rules for assisted suicide and a push to modernize legal training. Delegates called for mandatory counseling and assessments to ensure individuals requesting assistance are acting freely, while rejecting broad criminalization of suicide helpers. The association also proposed expanding civil defense obligations and updating legal education to focus on practical skills over rote memorization, though more radical changes, like scrapping state exams or mandatory internships, did not gain support.
For the first time, the DJT elected a woman, legal scholar Beate Gsell, as president. The event also featured warnings about democratic erosion, with outgoing president Henning Radtke, a member of the Federal Constitutional Court, emphasizing the need to protect institutions from political interference. Meanwhile, a failed attempt to rebrand the association as “djt, Recht mitgestalten” reflected lingering debates over how the profession should position itself in a changing society.
A doctor at the Medical University of Hannover, who had been accused of murder or attempted murder of three patients, was fully acquitted by the Landgericht Hannover. The court found no criminal conduct.
Political reactions and further legislative initiatives
Separate debates touched on organ donation policy. Economists highlighted that an opt-out system might raise registration rates without guaranteeing higher actual donation numbers, because family objections could still block procedures.
