26 Art. 33 GG: Equal Citizenship, Civil Service

Abstract

This chapter deals with equal access to civil service which is guaranteed by Art. 33 of the Grundgesetz (GG). It first examines the Federal Constitutional Court's jurisprudence regarding the importance of the civil service to a democratic state founded on the rule of law before addressing the question of access to civil service, with emphasis on the performance principle and the procedures which safeguard it. It then analyses the Court's so-called ‘Radicals decision’, in which it ruled that the duty of political loyalty was one of the traditional principles of the professional civil service, and the scope of the functional reservation of Art. 33 para. 4 GG. It also explains the prohibition of strikes by civil servants, along with the traditional principles of the professional civil service. Finally, it describes the traditional principles of the civil service as individual rights comparable to fundamental rights.