(1)Article 51 Citizens have the right to public security and social support.Article 57 The basic rights of citizens are inalienable.Dissenting opinions Cases Decision 12, 1997 Decision 8, 1998 Decision 21, 1998 Decision 29, 199: Law on the Professional Organisations of the Doctors and Dentists For the purposes of the healthcare reform, it was necessary to adopt a law on the professional organisations of the doctors and dentists. These organisations were supposed to bargain with the National Health Insurance Fund for the price of medical services. The law, passed by the National Assembly, envisaged mandatory membership of doctors in the professional unions. The petitioners in the present case argued that the arrangement violated the right of association - Article 44 [and more precisely, the requirement that the associations of citizens should protect their interest �Article 12(1)], as well as the right to labour and the right to privacy. In a lengthy decision, the CC dismissed these claims and upheld the law. The basic argument of the majority was that the professional organisations of doctors were not purely civic associations, but were authorised to perform governmental (public law) functions as well. Therefore, the state could regulate these organisations more strictly than other purely civil society associations: this was even required by the Constitution for the fulfilment of the state duty to protect the health of citizens [Article 52(3)]. The CC took into account rulings of the ECHR, interpreting Article 11(1) (freedom of association) of the European Convention of Human Rights. See Decision of May 27, 1981 �Belgium, in which the ECHR held that a doctors�organisation with compulsory membership does not fall under the protections of associations ensured by Article 11(1). The CC took into account also cases from the practice of the German Federal Constitutional Court, referring to Maunz Durig, Kommentar, Grundgesetz, Bd.I, Auflage, Munchen, 1990, Article 9, Abs.1, RN, 88 and Sachs M (Hsg), Grundgesetz, Munchen, 1996, Article 9, Abs.1, RN 21). Decision 32, 1998 Rightwing 1 1 2Left-wingJudiciary 1 212 1295
