Withdrawal of reference request on judge remuneration in North Rhine-Westphalia triggers discontinuation of norm control proceedings

The Federal Constitutional Court dismissed the pending norm control proceedings, effectively allowing the referring court’s withdrawal of the application to prevail and resulting in the termination of the case. The dispute concerned a constitutional complaint regarding the salary scheme for judges in North Rhine-Westphalia, which had been initiated by a referring court challenging the legality of the relevant remuneration regulations. The decisive procedural basis for this outcome was the court’s adherence to the principle that a pending constitutional review must be discontinued upon the applicant’s voluntary withdrawal of the reference request, a doctrine previously established in the Court’s September 27, 2024 decision.