News : The German constitution says "Yes" to the Treaty of Lisbon

Germany and the European Union: The German Constitutional Court has declared the Lisbon Treaty compatible with the German constitution

The German constitution says "Yes" to the Treaty of Lisbon

July 03, 2009

The Treaty of Lisbon is constitutional. However, the German Federal Constitutional Court has called for strengthened rights of participation for the German parliament, the Bundestag, and the representation of the 16 German states, the Bundesrat. It is planned to pass corresponding legislation before the next Bundestag elections.

The German Constitutional Court has declared that the Lisbon Treaty is compatible in principle with the German constitution. "The German constitution says Yes to the Treaty of Lisbon,” clarified the Vice-President of the Court, Andreas Voßkuhle, when stating the reasons for the judgement.

However, the national implementation law for the Treaty needs to be improved, as in its present form it is not compatible with German constitutional law. According to the judgement, Parliament’s rights of participation and duties when implementing European law are insufficiently regulated.

The ratification has thus been halted for the time being, but the highest Court has shown itself to be confident that the necessary legislative changes can be implemented shortly. The Treaty could therefore be ratified soon.

A good day for the Treaty

German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the judgement, as it does not question the Treaty of Lisbon in principle. "This is a good day for the Lisbon Treaty,” stated the Chancellor happily, as the Treaty has thus cleared another major hurdle.

The Chancellor anticipates that the necessary legislative changes will still come into force this summer, as the Bundestag and Bundesrat want to sign off the legislative changes called for by the Constitutional Court in August and September. Merkel promised that the Federal Government would do all in its powers to assist in this process.

The Lisbon Treaty could therefore be ratified in all Member States of the European Union (EU) in good time before the end of the year. However, the people of still have to accept the Treaty in a second referendum to be held in October.

Relationship between EU and clarified

The judges used the occasion of the various complaints against the Treaty to thoroughly examine the relationship between the EU and the nation states. As far as the Court is concerned, they drew a series of major conclusions from this, which will be binding on the Federal legislature in future.

Not to be forgotten: The rights of Parliament

Even though the German constitution expressly provides for European integration, this must not be at the expense of the sovereignty of the German people.

The EU is not a federation, but a union of sovereign states. The judges emphasised once again that the masters of the Treaties are and remain the Member States. It follows from this that the German Parliament has substantial responsibility where the extension of competences in respect of European law is concerned. All extensions to the EU’s competences must be approved by the German Parliament with its own legislation.

Simplified transfers of rights to the EU, as provided for as an option under the Treaty of Lisbon, are therefore not admissible in the constitution. This also applies to the right of veto in the Council of Ministers. When the German representative files a veto in future, this may no longer be surrendered without the approval of the German Parliament.

Delegates are not all the same

In contrast, the composition of the European Parliament, which had been criticised by the plaintiffs as being undemocratic, was accepted as admissible by the judges. They stated that the European Parliament could not ultimately be compared with a national Parliament since no European people exists as the sovereign to elect the Parliament. The judges therefore found it acceptable for members of the European Parliament to be elected with differing numbers of votes in the various Member States.

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