According to GA information, the city should classify the prospects of overturning the decision of the Cologne Administrative Court (VG) with a complaint to the Higher Administrative Court in Münster as rather low. The decision was also reviewed on Friday. As reported, the Administrative Court had announced on Thursday that the two dates for Open Sundays on 9 December for the Bonn city centre and on 16 December for Bad Godesberg were not compatible with the Shop Opening Act in NRW.

The trade union Verdi had obtained the bans by summary proceedings. On Friday morning, a hastily convened meeting was scheduled in which representatives of the trade as well as employees of the legal office and the economic development agency took part. No decision to take action against the ruling was taken. The Court of First Instance cited two main reasons for its case-law: On the one hand, the city made a formal mistake because it set the exact dates itself.

This was contrary to the NRW municipal code. The city council should have decided. On the other hand, the administrative judges criticised that the opening of shops on Sundays was not restricted to specific locations. The Christmas markets should be in the foreground, not the store openings. The protection of Sundays and public holidays resulted in "a constitutional rule-exception relationship for work on Sundays and public holidays". GA readers have different views on Sunday openings. Among the comments is a post by Hans-Jörg and Claudia Metze, who write: "Let's go to Holland, the Christmas markets are also very nice and you can still go for a stroll." Tobias Habich sees the decision as a disadvantage for business people, who already have to fight hard against online competition.

Salespersons also spoke, who were critical of the Verdi union because their shifts are better paid on Sundays. On the other hand, Yvonne Höfer thinks the court's decision is correct: "In my opinion, Sundays that are open for sales open the door to opening hours around the clock.“ Stephan Wimmers, Managing Director of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, cannot comprehend the verdict: "The lawsuits are causing great uncertainty in advance, making it even more difficult in the future to create a special experience for visitors to the cities“. Catholic and Protestant churches welcomed the ban in a joint press release, but pointed out that in the past it had been possible to find "viable compromises between the various interests". Politicians reacted differently.

Klaus-Peter Gilles (CDU) regrets the decision "because the Open Sunday is a day for families". He does not believe it has been agreed that the Christmas markets will not be at the forefront of these Sundays. Hans Friedrich Rosendahl (Allianz für Bonn) has a similar view: "The blocking of Open Sundays for sale by the trade union and the courts is backward and narrow-minded. The SPD is divided on this issue. Dieter Schaper sees a complicity in the administration. "One could have guessed that the city council had to set the date and not the administration.“

The Greens are also cautious because they consider rest periods to be important. But Stefan Freitag (Greens) also criticised the city's approach: "As politicians we must be able to expect the administration to decide something like that.“ Holger Schmidt (Linke) explained: "Since we consider Sunday rest important for social and cultural reasons and always reject Open Sundays in the city council, we are pleased about the judicial success of Verdi.“

Original text: Philipp Königs. Translation: Mareike Graepel