Germany marks constitutional court anniversary as Rhine hits new low

Germany is marking the 75th anniversary of its Federal Constitutional Court amid warnings about threats to liberal democracy and a fresh record low on the Rhine. A ceremony attended by about 1,000 guests is scheduled in Karlsruhe, where Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Bundestag President Julia Klöckner and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier are expected. Steinmeier said in a prepared speech that a strong court was important as political forces at the margins challenged liberal democracy.

The court, founded on September 28, 1951, is Germany’s highest authority on constitutional matters. Its rulings cannot be appealed and must be followed by other state institutions. By the end of 2025, it had handled almost 274,000 cases, according to the Federal Agency for Civic Education.

Elsewhere, the Rhine fell to 40 centimetres at Cologne on Monday morning, according to monitoring data from the WSV agency. City official Markus Neumann described the reading as a low-water record. The previous low before recent records was 69 centimetres in 2018.

Several other locations were also unusually shallow, with readings in Koblenz, Andernach and Düsseldorf moving into negative territory at gauging stations. The readings do not represent the full depth of the navigable channel but indicate conditions near the banks. The Rhine is an important freight route linking the Netherlands and the port of Rotterdam with western Germany.

It carries goods including coal and fuel. Low-water warnings were also in place on sections of several other German rivers, including the Elbe, Danube, Weser, Ems and Oder. Germany’s AfD also failed to win senior municipal posts in preliminary elections in Lower Saxony.