Military action
Under constitutional law, the use of the armed forces as a means of executive power under the exercise of sovereign coercion is referred to in Germany as a military operation or deployment . In other countries, the term deployment is sometimes broader and also describes pure administrative assistance by armed forces.
Germany
Legal bases
Under constitutional law, military operations by the Bundeswehr in Germany are based directly on Art. 87a (formation and tasks of armed forces) and Art. 35 (cooperation between authorities, police and armed forces) of the Basic Law (GG) and, after a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, also indirectly on Art. 24 ( Transfer of sovereignty to international organizations). Accordingly, armed forces may be used in the following four cases:
- For defense - this includes national defense at home and alliance defense abroad within the framework of NATO , peace missions and humanitarian interventions by the UN and the EU as well as the protection and evacuation of threatened Germans abroad (Art. 87a, Paragraph 1, Basic Law and Art. 24, Para . 2 GG);
- to protect civil objects (so-called critical infrastructure ) and to regulate traffic in the event of tension or a state of defense (Art. 87a (3) GG);
In the two aforementioned cases, the Bundestag (with the consent of the Bundesrat ) usually determines the state of defense at the request of the Federal Government or decides on an assignment abroad in accordance with the Parliamentary Participation Act . If there is an imminent danger , separate regulations apply.
- to avert an imminent danger to the existence or the free democratic basic order of the Federation or a Land (so-called internal emergency , Art. 87a, Paragraph 4, Basic Law);
- to maintain or restore public safety or order in the event of a natural disaster or a particularly serious accident (Art. 35, Paragraphs 2 and 3, GG).
In the first of the two aforementioned cases (Article 87a, Paragraph 4 of the Basic Law), the federal government, as a collegiate body (with the right of veto for the Bundestag and Bundesrat), decides on a military deployment to avert danger. In the second case (Art. 35 (2) and (3) GG) the federal government decides on the military operation at the request of a state government or (if several states are affected) independently, but then under the veto right of the Federal Council. In both cases, the armed forces are subordinate to the supported police forces and are obliged to limit the use of “specifically military weapons” (e.g. weapons of war ) to the minimum necessary to effectively combat the existing threat.
Domestic military operations
Military operations by the Bundeswehr in Germany in the sense of the constitutional concept of operations in the Basic Law have not yet occurred.
All assistance in the event of natural disasters by the Bundeswehr was always provided within the framework of administrative assistance (Article 35, Paragraph 1, GG) without sovereign powers. The Bundeswehr's Territorial Tasks Command is responsible for this . The abkommandierten be troops technically the civilian use of ladders subject to on-site which by connection commands are supported and advised. Colloquially, however, this assistance is often assigned to Bundeswehr deployments, analogous to the civil deployment term .
Even self-protection measures in the country for the prevention of crime or interference with the service operating in accordance with Law on the Use of Coercive Force and the Exercise of Special Powers by Bundeswehr soldiers and allied forces or civilian security guards are not constitutionally as a military involvement, even in securing temporarily appointed special military security areas outside of stationary military areas .
Military operations abroad
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Since 1960, the Bundeswehr has participated in a total of over 130 missions abroad. The operations are led by the Bundeswehr operations command .
Austria
In Austria, Articles 9a and 79 to 81 of the Federal Constitutional Law regulate fundamental matters of national defense. Accordingly, the armed forces can be used for the following tasks:
- National defense;
- Protection of the constitutional institutions and their capacity to act as well as the democratic freedoms of the inhabitants;
- Maintaining order and security inside at all;
- Assistance in the event of natural disasters and accidents of extraordinary magnitude.
The armed forces are currently (December 2015) in 15 missions abroad, with KFOR (Kosovo), EUFOR Althea (Bosnia) and UNIFIL (Lebanon) playing the largest role in terms of operational strength.
Switzerland
According to Art. 58 of the Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation , the Swiss Army serves to prevent war and helps to maintain peace; it defends the country and its people. It supports the civil authorities in warding off serious threats to internal security and in dealing with other extraordinary situations .
Operations in Germany in peacetime are usually carried out as subsidiary security operations or disaster relief in the assistance service (sworn).
The Swiss Armed Forces first foreign deployment in recent times took place in 1953 during the Korean War . Since then, Swiss soldiers have been regularly involved in peacebuilding operations (e.g. as part of Swisscoy in Kosovo) and in the disposal of ordnance around the world. Nonetheless, given the constitutional requirement of neutrality, the missions abroad repeatedly spark discussions among the Swiss public.
Web links
- Mission website of the Bundeswehr (operational command)
- Mission website of the Swiss Army (Defense Department)
- Public Safety Yearbook
literature
- Klaus Stern: The constitutional law of the Federal Republic of Germany (vol. 2. State organs, state functions, financial and budgetary constitution, emergency constitution) . Beck, Munich 1980, ISBN 978-3-406-07018-1 .
- Marcus Schultz: The foreign deployment of the Federal Armed Forces and Federal Border Police for the purpose of peacekeeping and defense: analysis of international and constitutional law with special consideration of the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court on the use of German armed forces of July 12, 1994 . Lang, Frankfurt am Main Berlin Bern New York Paris Vienna 1998, ISBN 978-3-631-32788-3 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stern: The State Law of the Federal Republic of Germany , Vol. II, 1980, § 42 III 3 b (p. 864).
- ↑ Schultz: The foreign deployment of the Federal Armed Forces and the Federal Border Police for the Purpose of Peacekeeping and Defense , 1998 (p. 167).
- ↑ Möllers / vanOoyen: Yearbook Public Safety , 2002/2003 (p. 288) ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ BVerfGE 90, 286 - Out-of-area deployments, July 12, 1994
- ↑ BVerfG, 2 PBvU 1/11 of July 3, 2012
- ↑ http://www.bmlv.gv.at/ausle/zahlen.shtml
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated October 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated February 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated November 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.swisscoy.ch/?Neutralit%26auml%3Bt_und_Auslandseins%26auml%3Btze
