State bodies must remain neutral in political competition and must not exert influence in a manner that favours or disadvantages any particular party. The Federal Constitutional Court has upheld an urgent application by the party „Die Linke“ against a video published by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy on its Instagram profile. Federal Minister Katherina Reiche has also been ordered to remove the video for the time being (Ref. 2 BvE 5/26, ruling of 14 October 2026).

In the video published on 24 September 2026, Reiche had spoken out critically against the party „Die Linke“. Among other things, she accused the party of openly practising anti-Semitism, opposing Jewish life and welcoming organised crime at election parties. Die Linke viewed this as a violation of its right to equal treatment of political parties and lodged a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court. It sought, by means of an urgent application, to have the video removed pending a decision on the main issue.

According to the court, it is crucial for the equality of opportunity between the parties that state bodies maintain neutrality in political competition. The statements were published on the Ministry’s official Instagram profile using state resources. In the court’s view, it cannot be ruled out that the Minister thereby exceeded the limits of the requirement for objectivity and infringed the principle of equal opportunities for political parties. In weighing up the consequences, the court considered that the grounds for a provisional order outweighed the opposing considerations. If the video remained online until a decision was reached on the main issue, the Left Party would face a serious, irreparable disadvantage in political competition due to the continued dissemination of the negative attributions. This was particularly true against the backdrop of the ongoing talks on forming a government in Berlin.

According to the court, the question of whether the statements in question were in fact unconstitutional must be resolved in the main proceedings. The minister must remove the video from the Ministry’s Instagram profile until a decision is reached in the main proceedings, but for no longer than six months.