Radical solution

The president of Germany's Federal Constitutional Court says the country's highest court is bogged down with too many appeals, and he has a solution: he's proposed a fee to process "obviously hopeless" appeals.

"The number of constitutional complaints has significantly risen in the past years," Andreas Vosskuhle told German daily Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung in an interview published on Saturday.

"Both of the court's senates are at great pains to cope with all the cases in a timely manner," he said, adding, "Justice [that comes] too late is not justice."

As a solution to the problem, Vosskuhle suggested deterring "obviously hopeless" appeals by forcing crank claimants to pay "wantonness" fees of up to 5,000 euros ($7,200).

Following Vosskuhle's plan, appellants could protest the fine by applying for another judge to rule on the first judge's ruling. Filing an appeal with Germany's supreme court is currently free as a matter of principle.

Vosskuhle told the newspaper that alternative solutions would be even more draconian, adding that the Constitutional Court wanted to avoid levying general fees or requiring claimants to be represented by a lawyer.

Currently the court, located in Karlsruhe, faces some 150,000 unprocessed appeals. Each complaint costs taxpayers around 5,000 euros, according to Vosskuhle, who claimed that "regular customers" - or those who abuse the system - cost the state a fortune.

Author: David Levitz (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Editor: Nicole Goebel