Law and Order Offensive Party
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Party for a Rule of Law Offensive
Partei Rechtsstaatlicher Offensive |
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|---|---|
| Leader | Ronald Schill (2000–03) |
| Founded | 1 July 2000 |
| Dissolved | 1 September 2007 |
| Ideology |
Right-wing populism Conservatism |
| Political position | Right-wing |
The Party for a Rule of Law Offensive or Rule of Law State Offensive Party or Party for the Promotion of the Rule of Law or Law and Order Offensive Party or Party of Law and Order Offensive (German: Partei Rechtsstaatlicher Offensive; commonly known as the "Schill party" from 2000 to 2003) was a minor right-wing populistparty in Germany, mainly active in the state of Hamburg, that ran on a platform of law and order. It was founded in July 2000 by the judge Ronald Schill and was temporarily very successful in Hamburg, winning 19.4% of the votes in the 2001 state election and joining a coalition government. After the centre-right coalition collapsed and Schill left the party in 2003, it quickly lost support. Attempts to expand to other states or the federal level were unsuccessful. It may therefore be considered a "flash party" or protest party.
Initially it used the acronym PRO but had to drop it after a judicial complaint by the Pro Deutsche Mitte (Pro DM) party, as it was considered too similar to the latter's short name. Because of this, the official short name was "Schill", derived from the informal, but commonly used epithet Schill-Partei ("Schill party") from 2001 to 2004. After Schill's resignation, the party had to choose yet another short name, now running as Offensive D, the "D" standing for Deutschland ("Germany").
Before his political career, Ronald Schill had been a criminal judge at the Hamburg district court. He was known in the local tabloid press for passing unusually severe sentences and advocating harsher penalties, especially for adolescent delinquents, winning the nickname of "Judge Merciless". Schill supporters launched a political initiative in late 1999 and registered the Party for a Rule of Law Offensive in July 2000. The party platform and public appearance was strongly focused on the personality of its founder.
In the 2001 Hamburg state parliament elections it instantly came third and received 19.4% of votes (only 7 points behind the major conservative CDU) and 25 of the 121 seats in the assembly. During the campaign, it had accused the state government of insufficient action against criminality, drugs, violence, demanding more police and tougher sanctions. It benefitted from a general feeling of insecurity that had spread after the September 11 attacks in the United States, especially given that three of the terrorists had lived and studied in Hamburg. After the eclection, the new party joined a centre-right coalition with the CDU and the liberal FDP. The Schill party had 3 out of 11 senators (equivalent to ministers), with Ronald Schill being deputy mayor and senator of the interior.
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