Authors

Discussion

Attacks to judicial independence and the rule of law in Central and Eastern Europe are increasingly recognized by transnational and national judges’ associations in neighbouring countries. This paper explores their reactions in relation to public support, transnational exchange, and intra-professional considerations of domestic developments. More specifically, first, it studies how German and transnational judges’ associations position themselves in the public discourse on the rule of law or on threats of authoritarian backsliding. Second, it is interested in transnational exchanges and manifestations of solidarity between the German judges and judges in neighbouring countries. Finally, the paper studies possible shifts in attention towards domestic threats of the rule of law within the German judiciary, thereby considering broader intra-professional negotiations of professional boundaries and perceptions of societal or political expectations of the judiciary. For this, the paper builds on a broader body of interviews on perceptions of domestic threats to judicial independence which is complemented with an ongoing research project including documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with judges and representatives of judges’ associations in Germany.