Constitutional Court orders minister Reiche to remove Left party video
Germany's Federal Constitutional Court has ordered Economy Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU) to take down an Instagram video in which she attacked the Left party (Die Linke). The court in Karlsruhe announced the emergency ruling on Thursday 15 October 2026. The video must stay offline until the court decides the main case, for a maximum of six months.
The clip was posted on 24 September on the official Instagram account of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, a few days after the Left party won the Berlin state election on 20 September. It showed parts of a speech in which Reiche said the party "openly lives antisemitism" and warned that its plans for expropriation were dangerous for Berlin and for Germany as a place to invest.
The Left party argued that a minister may not use her ministry's official channels to fight a political party, because state bodies must stay neutral between parties. The court's Second Senate decided by six votes to two that the party could suffer serious and irreparable harm in political competition if the video stayed online, especially while it is in talks to form a government in Berlin. Whether Reiche actually broke the constitution will only be decided in the main proceedings.
What changes now: the ruling does not stop ministers from making factual statements on topics such as antisemitism, expropriation or organised crime. But official statements made with the resources of a ministry must not contain the kind of attacks on a party that the video made. The ministry said it would examine the decision and comply with it. The main case between the party and the minister continues.