Cutting Off the Heads of the Hydra: Current Reforms in German Administrative Litigation Law

Abstract

In Germany, a discussion of accelerating administrative court proceedings has been going on for years. The new federal government has joined the debate and in 2022 presented a bill to accelerate energy transition, which is primarily aimed at changes in substantive law, but also seeks to accelerate the overall duration through changes in the procedural law of the administrative courts. However, the article shows that attempts to shorten the duration of administrative court proceedings inevitably go hand in hand with losses in the effectiveness of legal protection, which is protected under constitutional law in Germany.