Overview
- The Verfassungsgerichtshof ruled on Tuesday that the NRW refugee ministry must hand over communications and connection data to the parliamentary inquiry because committee rejections of those evidence motions were unlawful.
- The court said the requested phone and messaging records could help prepare, check, and contextualize witness statements and reveal contradictions or gaps in testimony.
- After the decision the U-Ausschuss secretariat sent the previously rejected evidence motions to all factions but the committee must still formally adopt the motions before the files are released.
- SPD leader Jochen Ott demanded the missing files be delivered by the end of the week while new minister Verena Schäffer points to earlier large document transfers and CDU lawyers warned about the scope and privacy of lower-level staff data.
- The order could unblock the Solingen inquiry into the August 23, 2024 Islamist attack that killed three people and may lead to fresh scrutiny of administrative failures such as the failed Dublin return; the next steps to watch are committee adoption, the practical scope of files released, and how privacy will be handled.