"German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries, seen here in 2004, wants to make it illegal for any man to seek a paternity test without the mother's permission"(AFP/File/Thierry Monasse),
How does someone like that get to be "justice minister"?
Posted on 01/07/2005 12:18:04 PM PST by BenLurkin
BERLIN (AFP) - A proposed law to ban paternity tests undertaken without written permission from the child's mother was dividing the governing coalition in Germany.
Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries, a member of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats (SPD), wants to make it illegal for any man to seek such a test without the mother's permission, and any laboratory that undertook the test would also be liable to prosecution.
But the Greens, who share power with the SPD, say the proposed law is unacceptable.
The president of the Greens' parliamentary party, Katrin Goering-Eckardt, told Friday's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that the alternative to a test -- contesting the paternity of a child in a court -- was often far more harmful to the family.
The opposition also says it will not vote in favour of the new proposal.
"A man must be able to find out whether he is the father or not. Making this right dependent on the agreement of the woman is not fair," said Wolfgang Zeitlmann of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party of the Christian Democratic Union.
Schroeder's official spokesman said on Friday that the chancellor supported his justice minister's proposal, while a ministry spokesman said a solution was expected to be hammered out by a working group set up to examine the issue.
Germany's biggest-selling newspaper, Bild, reported Friday that around 10,000 of the 50,000 paternity tests undertaken each year in Germany show that the man is not the father.
"German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries, seen here in 2004, wants to make it illegal for any man to seek a paternity test without the mother's permission"(AFP/File/Thierry Monasse),
How does someone like that get to be "justice minister"?
20% is the world average I have seen in other studies. Wierd.
It is like 51% of births being women. And they say slavery has ended.
I have green germs. Get some hot water. Get some disinfectant. Get some iodine.
Not just the Greens but also the "Christian Social Union" -- whatever that is.
The same way Janet Reno did.
This is an example of what I don't like about parliamentary systems. Very few issues are free votes for members. They must vote for the leadership's bill or they will be removed from future party lists.
The Christian Social Union (CSU) is the Bavarian branch of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The CSU is the most conservative of the German political parties, which puts it at about Teddy Kennedy's political position. They used to be pro-American, very anti-communist. When I was over there in 1980, they had a political ad using the term 'socialist unity sausage' to compare West Germany's prosperity and freedom to produce many kinds of sausage, compared to the threat of the socialists and their one kind of sausage. 'Socialist Unity Party' was the name of the East German communist party.
Nicely said.
Got it, thanks!
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