Populismus und Plebiszit
Im kleinsten deutschsprachigen Staat, dem Fürstentum Liechtenstein, war der Einfluss rechtspopulistischer Parteien bisher überschaubar. Doch in letzter Zeit scheinen populistische Akteure in dem alpinen Kleinstaat einen Hebel entdeckt zu haben: die direkte Demokratie. Seit 2020 gab es bereits zwölf Abstimmungen, davon allein sechs im Jahr 2024. Gerade aus einer parlamentarischen Minderheitsposition heraus instrumentalisieren rechtspopulistische Kräfte direktdemokratische Verfahren, wenn ihnen entsprechende Möglichkeiten zur Verfügung stehen.
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The EFTA Court vs Liechtenstein’s Constitutional Court
On July 4 2023, the Court of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) issued its advisory opinion in RS v Steuerverwaltung des Fürstentums Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein’s Constitutional Court had already found in 2020 that a difference in tax rate on income for resident and non-resident employees was incompatible with the free movement of workers. Nonetheless, the Administrative Court of Liechtenstein found it necessary to refer the exact same issue to the EFTA Court, upon which the EFTA Court came to a similar conclusion as the Constitutional Court. The reason thereto? The Constitutional Court had suspended the annulment of the national law for reasons of legal certainty. The question consequently arose of how the national court should further proceed. Should it immediately give full effect to the law of the European Economic Area (EEA) by following the EFTA Court and disapplying the national legislation, or should it give priority to the findings of its own Constitutional Court and nonetheless apply the national legislation, even if that legislation breaches EEA law? How should the national court deal with this conflict of allegiance?
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Small Country, Big Hurdles
Liechtenstein is far away from a comprehensive decriminalisation of abortion. The termination of pregnancy is still regulated by the Criminal Code and the person who performs the abortion will be prosecuted. Only the pregnant person acts legally when terminating an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy. But it took until 2015 for pregnant persons to be granted a (limited) right to self-determination, and there is still a lack of sufficient legal, medical and social support. In a difficult and psychologically stressful situation, pregnant persons must seek treatment abroad – not because they want to, but because they have to.
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