Gunnar Beck

Gunnar Beck (* 1966 in Düsseldorf ) is a German lawyer and legal philosopher . He is a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London . In 2019 he won the European elections in Germany for the AfD in the European Parliament .

Life

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Beck studied political science , philosophy , as well as law and economics in Oxford , Münster , Heidelberg and London. In 1996 he received his PhD in philosophy from Nuffield College , Oxford under Isaiah Berlin . In the 2000s Beck worked as an employed barrister (attorney) in the international law firm Herbert Smith (2000–2002, today: Herbert Smith Freehills ) in London and was also active as a European law advisor to the British House of Commons . As a lecturer, he taught at times at the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics . Since 2005 he has been teaching European law and legal theory at the law school of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), a college at the University of London . In response to his work as a candidate for the AfD , his colleagues in the SOAS law faculty distanced themselves from him. There he is a reader ; the post for university lecturers at British universities is somewhere between a senior lecturer and the comparatively rare position of professor . Beck also works as a freelance barrister for a law firm in London. The focus of his legal work is European law. He speaks German, English and French.

Beck entered the alternative for Germany in 2014 . In the 2019 European Parliament election , he was the tenth candidate on the AfD list. In June 2020 he lost parliamentary immunity as a result of investigations into possible misuse of titles .

Controversy over the title of professor and specialist lawyer

Beck was named on the ballot for the European elections in May 2019 as “Prof. Dr. Gunnar Beck ”. Beck also appeared as a professor in other contexts. Under German law, however, Gunnar Beck is not a professor and is therefore not allowed to use this title in Germany. In a statement to Deutschlandfunk , Beck relied on the fact that the activity of a reader corresponds to that of a professor in Germany. The Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia , which is responsible for him because of his official residence in Neuss , has stated that this does not entitle him to use the designation "Prof." or "Professor" in Germany. For several months, the Wikipedia article about Beck also stated that he was a professor at the University of Sussex . Beck referred to this in relation to the constitution blog. However, the University of Sussex said Beck never worked there.

According to Christian Wolf , head of the Institute for Legal Law at the University of Hanover , Beck also wrongly used the term “ specialist lawyer for EU law” . He does not meet the requirements of the specialist lawyer regulations for this title, which is protected in Germany. According to German professional law, there is no such thing as a specialist lawyer for European law. The Düsseldorf public prosecutor's office has started investigations against Beck on suspicion of misuse of the title.

On the basis of press reports and criminal charges for alleged misuse of titles , the Düsseldorf public prosecutor initiated an investigation. As a result of Beck's election as MEP and his assumption of office, the investigation was suspended. In June 2020, he lost his parliamentary immunity after the EU Parliament granted a request by the Düsseldorf Public Prosecutor to allow the investigation to be restarted.

Works

• Fichte and Kant on Freedom, Rights, and Law. Lexington Books, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7391-2294-5 .
• The Legal Reasoning of the Court of Justice of the EU. Hart Publishing, Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-1-84946-323-2 .

Web links

• Entry on Gunnar Beck in the Members' database of the European Parliament

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alphabetical list of all elected - The Federal Returning Officer. Retrieved May 27, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Dr Gunnar Beck | Staff | SOAS University of London
3. ↑ Rosemary Bennett: Academics appalled by colleague standing for far-right AFD . In: The Times . May 17, 2019, ISSN  0140-0460 ( thetimes.co.uk [accessed May 20, 2019]).
4. ^ School of Law Staff - SOAS University of London. In: soas.ac.uk. Retrieved May 16, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Philip Oltermann: Soas academic running for AfD wrongly listed as professor on ballot. In: theguardian.com. May 14, 2019, accessed on May 15, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Candidates - Alternative for Germany.
7. ^ ^{A b} AfD politician Beck loses parliamentary immunity. In: Der Spiegel. June 18, 2020, accessed June 18, 2020 . 
8. ↑ Maximilian Steinbeis : Ranks and Titles. In: Verfassungsblog . Maximilian Steinbeis, May 11, 2019, accessed on May 14, 2019 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b} AfD European candidate - Gunnar Beck apparently wrongly uses the title of professor. In: Deutschlandfunk . May 13, 2019, accessed May 14, 2019 . 
10. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Stephan Detjen : Gunnar Beck - AfD European candidate apparently uses the title of professor inadmissibly. In: Deutschlandfunk . May 14, 2019, accessed May 14, 2019 . 
11. ↑ https://www.zeit.de/news/2019-05/23/ermittlungen-gegen-afd-europakandidat-190523-99-350446