Luxembourg, 15/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - In a preliminary ruling the President of the Court of Justice Gil Rodriguez Iglesias, said that the Court was "manifestly not competent" to examine the case of Alexander Dory, a young German who does not want to do his military service.
Alexander Dory had asked the Court to take interim measures to oblige Germany to suspend the decision of the municipal military service office of convening him to do his military service in November 2001. The young man had asked the Administrative Tribunal of Stuttgart to annul the decision, and the latter had asked the Court of Justice if the fact that in Germany military service was only compulsory for men was contrary to Community law.
In his ruling, the Court's President declared that it was not competent. It is up to national jurisdiction to ensure the legal protection of people subject to trials who invoke the direct effect of a directive, he explained. Mr. Dory considers Germany's fundamental law that provides for military service being compulsory for men to be contrary to the principle of gender equality as provided by the EU Treaty. This provision of the Treaty is simple and direct and may thus be invoked before a national court by anyone taken before it, experts explain. Which is in fact what Tanja Kreil did, having turned to the Administrative Tribunal of Hanover to dispute this same fundamental German law which excludes women from the German army except for health and band services. The Court had considered that the German provisions were contrary to the principle of gender equality (see EUROPE of 12 January 2000). Experts point out that, at first sight, Tanja Kreil was a "worker" seeking to work in the army, whereas Alexander Dory was a simple citizen subject to an obligation that does not enter the realm of work.