Panorámica de la actualidad política y constitucional Alemana desde Enero de 2007 a Junio de 2008

— This article offers a panoramic view of the most important events and discussions that have shaped the political and constitutional landscape in Germany from January 2007 till June 2008. Due to the limited number of pages and space, the article focuses only on some of them, particularly on those cases on which the German Federal Constitutional Court has delivered important decisions. The political debate in Germany in the last one and a half year has been decisively shaped by the measures that the Government plans to put in place to combat more effectively crime, in particular terrorism. The central issue of the debate has been (and will still be in the next months) the draft of the new law that will regulate the Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt). Since the amendment of the German Basic Law in 2006 competences have been conferred on this Office not only to prosecute terrorist acts under certain circumstances, but also to prevent them. 380 MARIA ANGELES MARTIN VIDA 10_Marti?n 6/11/08 12:22 Pagina 380