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German Constitutional Court
Former MEP Franz Ludwig Graf Stauffenberg
The dangerous subversion of Germany's democracy
Markets appear to be acting on the firm belief that Germany’s finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble is lying to lawmakers
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, September 28th, 2011
Very Important Article
Germany and France are seeking a separate agreement among the 17 euro-zone members.
That, though, may be illegal say many.
"Many" = The legal services experts of the European Commission,
the European Central Bank and the European Council
Der Spiegel, 9 december 2011
Merkel ändrar grundlagen för att lättare flytta makt till Bryssel
Rolf Englund blog 2011-11-14
/Den tyska/ Konstitutionsdomstolen har slagit fast att regeringen måste gå till förbundsdagen för att inte bryta mot grundlagen.
Det innebär både att den demokratiska förankringen ökar och att möjligheterna till transparens i processen blir betydligt bättre.
Claes Arvidsson, ledarskibent SvD 26 oktober 2011
Trots allt handlar dagens beslut om rekapitalisering av bankerna (100 miljarder euro), grekisk skuldnedskrivning (50–60 procent) och en förstärkning av krisfonden EFSF (från 400 till kanske 2000 miljarder euro) – med Tyskland som största bidragsgivare.
Regeringen erkänner att lagligheten i riksdagens ratificering av Nice-fördraget kan ifrågasättas
Ur Prop. 2001/02:72 Ändringar i regeringsformen samarbetet i EU m.m. Sid 31 ff
Europe is now leveraging for a catastrophe
A leveraged EFSF is attractive to politicians for the same reason that subprime mortgages once appeared attractive to borrowers.
- the crisis ultimately vindicates the German constitutional court’s conservatism in its definition of what constitutes a functioning democracy
Wolfgang Münchau, FT October 23, 2011
Asked why EU leaders were still holding the Sunday meeting, the German official said:
“That’s a good question. Sarkozy wants one.”
Financial Times 21 October 2011
The postponement is due to a combination of two factors: Nicolas Sarkozy’s diplomacy, and
the German Bundestag’s insistence that it needs to give a mandate to the chancellor ahead of the summit.
Eurointelligence 21 October 2011
The Bundestag made it clear to Angela Merkel that it insists on seeing the draft proposals for the EFSF guidelines in German this Thursday
if it is to give the chancellor a mandate for negotiations at the summit on Sunday, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports.
Eurointelligence 20 October 2011
Last week’s ruling of the German constitutional court.
It categorically rules out any policy option beyond what has been agreed so far.
I cannot see how it can be consistent with the survival of the eurozone, given the policies of member states and the ECB
Wolfgang Munchau, FT 11 Septemner 2011
Den förre ordföranden Hans Olaf Henkel i det tyska industriförbundet, motsvarigheten till Svenskt Näringsliv, föreslår i en artikel i Financial Times
att Tyskland, Österrike, Finland och Nederländerna ska lämna eurosamarbetet och forma ett helt nytt valutasamarbete.
Henkel, som tidigare var en av eurons ivrigaste försvarare, har under den intensiva skuldkrisen ändrat uppfattning om det krisdrabbade valutasamarbetet.
Han skriver att hans tidigare stöd till euron är hans karriärs största misstag.
Ekot 30 augusti 2011
Mrs Merkel has cancelled a high-profile trip to Russia on September 7,
the crucial day when the package goes to the Bundestag and the country's constitutional court rules on the legality of the EU's bail-out machinery.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, 28 August 2011
German President Christian Wulff questioned the legality of the European Central Bank's bond-buying program
highlighting the strength of opposition in Germany to the controversial plan.
CNBC 24 Aug 2011
Wulff cited an article in the European Union's fundamental treaty, which prohibits the ECB from buying bonds directly from governments.
"This ban only makes sense if those responsible don't circumvent it with comprehensive purchases on the secondary market," he added.
The ECB buys the bonds on the secondary market.
Germany's constitutional court misses the last chance to save Europe from its folly
Daniel Hannan DT blog 7 sptember 2011
To remind you, Article 125 of the Treaties says:
The Union shall not be liable for or assume the commitments of central governments, regional, local or other public authorities, other bodies governed by public law, or public undertakings of any Member State.
That seems pretty open-and-shut, doesn't it?
And, indeed, no one until a couple of months ago seriously tried to claim that the bailouts were lawful.
As Angela Merkel herself put it, 'we have a treaty under which there is no possibility to bail out states in dificulty'. That's why she is now changing the treaties, so as retrospectively to authorise the rescue packages. Until those changes come into effect, though, the legal position seems pretty clear: no bailouts.
- Redan vid EU-toppmötet i mars beslöt man om en smärre fördragsändring för att kunna skapa en gemensam räddningsfond, med en kapacitet på 500 miljarder euro, skrev Mats Hallgren den 23 juni 2011.
500 miljarder euro som resultat av "en smärre fördragsändring"
Rolf Englund blog 30 juni 2011
http://www.openeurope.org.uk/research/Karlsruhefactor.pdf
Germany's highest court has ruled that relief for Greece and the euro bailout program is constitutional.
Presiding Judge Andreas Vosskuhle said the verdict "should not be misinterpreted as a constitutional blank check for further rescue packages."
Der Spiegel, 7 september 2011
The judges ruled that aid package resolutions cannot be automatic and may not infringe on the decision-making rights of parliament.
Aid packages have to be clearly defined, and members of parliament must be given the opportunity to review the aid and also stop it if needed, the ruling said
Bundesbank questions legality of EU bail-outs
Germany's Bundesbank has issued a blistering critique of EU bail-out policies,
warning that the eurozone is drifting towards a debt union without "democratic legitimacy" or treaty backing.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, 22 August 2011
"The latest agreements mean that far-reaching extra risks will be shifted to those countries providing help and to their taxpayers, and entail a large step towards a pooling of risks from particular EMU states with unsound public finances," said the bank's August report.
It said an EU summit deal in late July threatens the principle that elected parliaments should control budgets. The Bundesbank said the scheme leaves creditor states with escalating "risks and burdens" yet no means of enforcing fiscal discipline to make this workable.
There are no plans as yet for EU treaty changes to correct these distortions. "Unless there is a fundamental change of regime involving a far-reaching surrender of national fiscal sovereignty, it is imperative that the 'no bail-out' rule – still enshrined in the treaties – should be strengthened by mark
Some are now openly advocating political union as the solution to the crisis.
The former EU Commissioner Emma Bonino was refreshingly candid when I met her in Rome last week.
She believes that a United States of Europe is the answer. She accepted that political union would have to be put to the voters.
Gavin Hewitt, BBC Europe editor, 18 July 2011
The outcome would be uncertain, although the voters no doubt would be told they were voting to save the European Union.
EU:s ledare har nu enats om huvuddragen i en krishanteringsmekanismen där euroländer som behöver stöd kan få lån
För att inrätta det nya systemet krävs en ändring i EU:s fördrag.
Att öppna för ändringar riskerar att utlösa nya krav på ändringar i andra delar av grundlagen.
Lösningen är att använda en förenklad procedur för ändringar och infoga två meningar i det gällande fördraget.
Det innebär inte att mer makt flyttas från EU-länderna till EU:s institutioner och därmed undviks nya, mångåriga diskussioner och folkomröstningar runt om i EU.
Riksdag och Departement
EU genomför fördragsändring i smyg, med hjälp av Reinfeldt
Rolf Englund blog 8 juli 2011
The German constitutional court in Karlsruhe said it would hold a hearing on
challenges to last year’s Greece rescue package on July 5.
Financial Times 9 June 2011
Säga vad man vill om Göran Persson, men få kan som han fånga ett auditorium. Och så är det fortfarande.
Solbränd, avspänd och med en och annan sedvanligt bitsk släng levererade den förre statsministern funderingar kring rapporten ”Makten i Europa”
Annika Ström Melin, Signerat, DN 1 juni 2011
Rolf Englund: I sitt inlägg underströk Göra Persson den stora betydelsen av den tyska författningsdomstolen
The eight judges of the Verfassungsgericht in Karlsrühe – that den of incurable Teutonism and closet eurosceptics
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, February 21st, 2011
The German constitutional court has almost no other choice than to rule that EU law was violated.
After all it was Christine Lagarde who told the Wall Street Journal recently.
“We have violated all rules of law because we agreed that we really wanted to save the eurozone.”
Eurointelligence 24 May 2011
Süddeutsche Zeitung thinks the court will rule before the summer break.
Legal experts agree that a negative ruling would prohibit Germany to continue to take part in the ongoing rescues. One of the consequences would be that the bonds issued by the EFSF would immediately lose its triple-A-rating.
A group of 50 economists and lawyers are apply for a court injunction at the Karlsruhe constitutional court against the rescue program for Portugal
Eurointelligence 12/4 2011
According to law professor Markus Kerber of Berlin, who is acting on behalf of the group, the rescue program contains irreversible inconveniences for Germany.
Should there be no injunction Germany would lose its fiscal sovereignty, Kerber argues.
The Fundamental Problem with Efforts to Save the Euro
European politicians are still pursuing a path to integration that citizens have long since abandoned.
Udo Di Fabio, a judge on Germany's Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, speaks of "conceptual limits that can in fact only be exceeded by taking a spirited step in the direction of the federal state."
For former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the idea of "maintaining an economic and monetary union in the long term without a political union" was an "absurd notion."
Michael Sauga, Der Spiegel 03/30/2011
Euro breakup revisited
I would take Germany’s limited liability as given, both for reasons of domestic politics and constitutional law.
It is inconceivable that the German constitutional court would accept an unlimited burden sharing.
And even a change of government in 2013 would not fundamentally Germany’s position.
If any politicians tried to raise Germany’s burden, the country would revolt.
Wolfgang Münchau 24.03.2011
The European stability mechanism, which will be the permanent crisis mechanism from 2013
The agreement reached on March 11 not only appeared comprehensive, it also came as a surprise.
Unfortunately, when you look more closely, as I did last week, it begins to look smaller. By the end of the week, it had crumbled.
Wolfgang Münchau, FT March 20 2011
Permanent Euro Fix
Germany to Contribute 22 Billion Euros to New Fund
Finance ministers agreed on Monday to furnish the new permanent bailout fund with 80 billion euros, with the ability to call on 620 billion euros more should the need arise. The deal paves the way for agreement at an EU summit later this week.
Der Spiegel 22/3 2011
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble stressed on Monday that the EU will continue to attach strict conditions to bailouts in the future, requiring countries to impose rigorous austerity programs in return for help.
Markus Ferber, a member of the European Parliament for the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party of the CDU, said that provision may breach European Union treaties which stipulate that member states must not assume each other's liabilities. "The possibility of the ESM to buy government bonds in the primary market is a classic assumption of liabilities that is ruled out by the European treaties," said Ferber.
The government, the Bundestag, and the Bundesbank all have their own, and conflicting, views on how the crisis should be resolved.
To add to the confusion, the three parliamentary groups in the Bundestag yesterday made a recommendation to the Bundestag
– a proposal that will be formally voted on - that Merkel must not agree anything without asking the parliament first,
something FT Deutschland reports she was “not entirely happy” about.
In addition, as Reuters reports, the parliamentary parties are dead set against any bond buyback to be organised by the ESM.
A draft contained the following excerpt: "Parliament expects that jointly financed or guaranteed purchase programmes of government debt would be
ruled out for reasons of constitutional and European law, and on economic grounds."
Eurointelligence 22/2 2011
All that has occurred so far is that Irish and Greek taxpayers have taken on fresh debt so that creditors do not crystallise losses.
It remains a disguised rescue for North European banks and insurers.
There can no longer be any doubt that Germany has lost control of the ECB, that the implicit contract under which the German people agreed to give up the D-Mark has been breached.
The eight judges of the Verfassungsgericht ruled on the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 that EMU failure to ensure monetary stability in Germany would violate the Grundgesetz
and either force Germany to change its constitution (very hard) or leave the euro.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 20 Feb 2011
EMU travails will goes on, and on, until Germany – and the others – understands that it has been lured into a Monet trap:
it cannot both be a member of monetary union and remain a self-governing sovereign nation.
That is to say, Germany must be prepared to do for Southern European what it has already done for its own kin in East Germany, but on six times the scale.
Or she can pull the plug, by quietly signalling to the Verfassungsgericht that Berlin would not be too angry if the eight judges declared the EU’s rescue machinery to be unconstitutional, ending EMU as we know it.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, 16 Jan 2011
Två meningar som kan ställa till det rejält
Merkel var orolig för att den mäktiga tyska författningsdomstolen skulle opponera sig mot den tillfälliga krisfond på 750 miljarder euro
SvD, reporter Teresa Küchler, 16 december 2010
Only Trichet can save us now – ECB about to monetise peripheral debt
The second problem is that a large purchasing programme of the kind demanded by analysis
is almost certainly a breach of European law, and German constitutional law.
Eurointelligence, 2 December 2010
analyst expressed expection that the ECB would sanction a €1000bn to €2000bn bond purchasing programme.
In our view there are insurmountable problems with this thesis.
The first is that it does not resolve the problem.
The financial markets are panicking despite the setup of the EFSF. So they are not concern about liquidity, but about solvency. The ECB’s bond purchasing programme will almost certainly be geared towards the reduction of interest rates,
but it will not be so large as too change the fundamental solvency concerns for the eurozone periphery.
The second problem is that a large purchasing programme of the kind demanded by analysis is almost certainly a breach of European law, and German constitutional law.
European Financial Stability Facility (Greklands räddningspaket)
Germany’s constitutional court has left Ms Merkel little leeway.
Without a treaty change, the EFSF must run out in 2013
Wolfgang Münchau, FT October 31 2010
Angela Merkel is right on the specific question of the need for a change in the European Union treaties to create a permanent crisis resolution mechanism.
Such an institution is needed to replace the European Financial Stability Facility when it expires in 2013.
Germany’s constitutional court has left Ms Merkel little leeway. Without a treaty change, the EFSF must run out.
The constitutional court is an important factor in the German position. It gave a green light to the EFSF, after the government invoked a “force majeure” defence.
The EFSF was set up to protect the eurozone, the government’s lawyers argued. The court accepted that argument. But the German government cannot conceivably extend that reasoning to the establishment of an entirely new EU institution.
In its ruling on the Lisbon treaty, the court gave an exceedingly restrictive view on the legitimacy of further European integration without an explicit democratic mandate.
Furthermore, the court would read the “no bail-out” clause of the Maastricht treaty in a strict literal sense. It could easily block the new mechanism. The legal risks of going outside the treaty are therefore immense.
Angela Merkel insisterade på att en begränsad ändring är nödvändig
för att landets författningsdomstol inte ska stoppa Tyskland
från att vara en del i det skyddsnät som ska ersätta den tillfälliga räddningsfond som inrättades efter eurokrisen i våras.
SvD Näringsliv 29 oktober 2010
Också den svenska regeringen vill bidra till skyddsnätet, trots att Sverige inte är med i valutaunionen.
Även Merkels kontroversiella förslag om att dra in rösträtten för euroländer som permanent hotar eurozonens finansiella stabilitet ska utredas, men på obestämd tid. Statsminister Fredrik Reinfeldt tror att det kommer att dröja länge innan det kan bli verklighet, om det någonsin blir det.
– Flera länder har rest invändningar, säger Reinfeldt.
– Man kan lätt göra sig lustig över att länder ska folkomrösta om att förlora sin rösträtt.
According to EU officials,
Mr Trichet told the summit that signalling to markets that private investors would be more at risk in restructurings
could spook the bond market, driving up interest rates for countries such as Ireland and Greece.
The EU officials said Mr Trichet’s warning was met with bitterness by Nicolas Sarkozy,
who complained he did not understand the challenges facing heads of state.
FT 29/10 2010
The €750bn financial rescue package
The German constitutional court has still to rule on the package. "natural disasters or exceptional occurrences beyond its control"
Wolfgang Münchau May 30 2010
The Council invoked Article 122 of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union, under which financial assistance is allowed “where a Member State is in difficulties or is seriously threatened with severe difficulties caused by natural disasters or exceptional occurrences beyond its control”, but I think there are legitimate doubts about whether the multiple policy failures that led to this crisis constitute an event beyond one’s control.
I also fear the German justices will express misgivings about the European Central Bank’s decision this month to buy bonds.
How can a loan guarantee solve a problem of excessive indebtedness?
The funny thing is that the Germans, Ms Merkel probably included, really believed in the “no bail-out” clause.
They were shocked by events. They failed to see that Article 125 of the Lisbon treaty is the kind of law that is irrelevant until needed, at which point it becomes impossible to apply.
Wolfgang Münchau May 10 2010
Ms Merkel’s staff had impressed on her that any attempt to support Greece with loans at below market interest rates would draw the ire of the German constitutional court. That, too, turned out to be a misjudgment. We know that the court is sceptical about further European integration and made its views clear last year in its ruling on the Lisbon treaty. But Germany’s constitutional justices are not reckless. They duly and almost instantaneously dismissed a frivolous case against the Greek aid package, brought by four Europhobic professors.
http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/
Contrary to general belief, Germany’s eurosceptic professors have not abandoned their legal efforts to block the EU rescues for European banks exposed to Greek debt,
Should they succeed, of course, the eurozone risks disintegration within days, and perhaps hours.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard July 8th, 2010
In their latest broadside the professors said the rescue fund “self evidently” violates the no-bailout clause of the Lisbon Treaty.
They have seized on comments by France’s Europe minister Pierre Lelouche, who admitted after the summit deal on May 7 that EU leaders had carried out a constitutional coup. “It is expressly forbidden in the treaties by the famous no-bailout clause. De facto, we have changed the treaty,” he said.
“Chancellor Merkel obliged the President to sign this emergency law within hours. He was not able to examine its constitutionality, as he is sworn to do. No government should ever treat a head of state in this fashion, not least on a question of such existential importance.”
The EU’s no-bailout clause from Article 125 says:
German president resigns
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/05/31/germany.president.resigns/index.html
In 1998, four renegade German professors tried to stop the introduction of the euro with a legal challenge in Germany's highest court.
Now, 12 years later, they are fighting against a German bailout for Greece - and this time around, people are listening to them.
Der Spiegel online 30 june 2010
Wilhelm Hankel is sitting on the stage at a meeting of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. He is beaming with joy. The 81-year-old professor has just explained why the euro has always been a monstrosity, and why it will and must fail. Although the current plans to "get a living corpse to walk" are touching, he scoffed, one thing is already clear: The euro bailout package will only save the banks.
Surprisingly enough, his presentation was met with long and enthusiastic applause from his audience of economists. For Hankel, it was about time. The recalcitrant professor has been waiting for what has seemed like an eternity for this recognition. Since Jan. 12, 1998, to be precise.
Full textGermany
Four professors will launch a legal challenge in early May at the Verfassungsgericht (high court).
Should they secure an injunction, EMU may fly apart.
EMU shut the warning signals, disguising risk.
What investors overlooked is that currency risk mutates into default risk in a monetary union
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, 25 Apr 2010
The Court ruled in 1993 that Maastricht was constitutional only as long as EMU remains an area of monetary order. "A 'transfer union' is a bottomless pit and is bound to threaten currency stability. That is what we are going file," said Tübingen Professor Joachim Starbatty.
When accused of consigning Greece to ruin, he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine that EMU exit and default is Greece's only salvation. "The truth has to come out into the open. Greece is in no position to pay it debts," he said.
The EU-IMF "therapy" of deflation for Greece repeats the catastrophic errors of Chancellor Heinrich Bruning in the early 1930s and must lead to a depression, he said.
No country in Western Europe has defaulted since the Second World War.
More than €7 trillion has been lent to Club Med states, banks and homeowners in the belief that it cannot happen.
EMU shut the warning signals, disguising risk. What investors overlooked is that currency risk mutates into default risk in a monetary union.
It makes default more likely, not less.
Heinrich Bruning
Click here
In a landmark judgment in 1993, the constitutional court ruled that, once it came into force, monetary union had continuously to satisfy the full conditions of the “stabilisation treaty”
concluded when the single currency was agreed. If it did not, the court ruled, Germany would be obliged to leave.
The four professors who took the German government to the German constitutional court in 1998 over Germany’s entry into the euro. Wilhelm Hankel, Wilhelm Nölling, Karl Albrecht Schachtschneider and Joachim Starbatty, FT, March 25 2010
There is, sadly, only one way to escape this vicious circle. The Greeks will have to leave the euro, recreate the drachma and re-enter the still-existing exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary System, the so-called ERM-II, which they departed in 2001
It is reasonably clear that Greece has run out of options. The country has adopted an austerity programme of near-unprecedented severity, cutting government spending, raising taxes and depressing salaries. This programme completely ignores Keynes’ dictum that states must face crises with counter-measures to support demand. The Greek action is painfully reminiscent of Germany’s ill-fated moves to slash spending in the 1930s slump, which taught the world that cutting budgets to appease creditors in a downturn generates mass unemployment and radicalises society.
Last week's ruling by the German Constitutional Court, coupled with demands by one conservative party for changes to the constitution,
may not only jeopardize Berlin's schedule for the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.
The Karlsruhe ruling also threatens future steps toward European integration.
SPIEGEL Staff 6/7 2009
When the parliamentary group of the Christian Social Union (CSU) -- the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats -- met in Berlin last Thursday, they had a hero to celebrate. "You have saved our honor," said CSU representative Hans-Peter Friedrich to his party colleague and friend Peter Gauweiler.
Gauweiler, a lawyer from Munich -- and a political maverick who is the enfant terrible of the conservative group in the German parliament or Bundestag -- was largely successful with the legal complaint he filed with the German Constitutional Court against the EU Lisbon Treaty. Now it's official: The ratification by the overwhelming majority of the German parliament -- including the CSU -- was negligent. In essence, the court ruled that by passing the so-called "accompanying law" to the Lisbon Treaty, which determines the rights of German parliament to participate in European legislation, the representatives had relinquished significant monitoring rights to Brussels. According to the judges, this unconstitutionally subjects the people that they represent to the whims of a bureaucracy that lacks sufficient democratic legitimacy.
Germany's debate on how much national say there should be over further EU integration is intensifying two weeks after the country's constitutional court handed down a significant judgement on the EU's Lisbon Treaty.
The CSU, sister party of the governing Christian Democratic Union - Its chief Horst Seehofer said his party wants parliament to have veto power on EU decisions
EU Observer 13/7 2009
Germany’s constitutional court ruled that the Lisbon treaty was consistent with German law.
This means Germany will be able ratify the treaty before the end of the year.
But... If you read the entire 147-page ruling, you realise that
the court has given a damning verdict on future European integration.
For example, it declared a hypothetical fiscal policy co-ordination or the establishment of a single European Union military command as unconstitutional.
Wolfgang Münchau, FT July 12 2009
I want to focus on three aspects of this complex ruling:
the separation of powers between member states and the EU;
the court’s view of the European parliament;
and its view on European integration.
First, Germany’s constitutional court takes a clear stance on sovereignty.
Ultimate authority always has to rest in a single place – and that is the member state for now.
If you wanted to transfer sovereignty to the EU,
you would have to dump your national constitution and adopt a European version in its place.
As this is not going to happen, the court, in effect, ruled that all sovereignty in the EU is national.
Power may be shared, but sovereignty may not.
Second, the court does not recognise the European parliament as a genuine legislature,
representing the will of a single European people, but as a representative body of member states.
Germany will be able to ratify the Lisbon treaty only after a change in a domestic power-sharing law.
Third, and perhaps most important, the court has given an explicit opinion on the question of European integration.
Where does it end? The answer is: right here.
The court said member states must have sovereignty in the following areas:
criminal law, police, military operations, fiscal policy, social policy, education, culture, media, and relations with religious groups.
In other words, European integration ends with the Lisbon treaty.
You might have noted the reference to fiscal policy in the list of policy areas reserved for member states. This is interesting in view of the debate about the policy response to the financial crisis, and the introduction of a constitutional balanced budget law in Germany.
In terms of economic policy, the court’s view may have been consistent with the realities that prevailed before the Maastricht treaty in the early 1990s. But a decision that essentially rules out effective economic crisis management in a monetary union, by anchoring all relevant political decisions at the national level, is hardly consistent with a sustainable single currency. Something will have to give, and I would not be prepared to predict what will happen if an actual conflict were to arise.
Anyone locked in a monetary union with Germany should be very worried.
Specifically the problem lies with the procedures the Lisbon Treaty proposes for making changes to the EU treaties in the future.
Lisbon has what is known as the 'general bridging clause' (AKA: the Passarelle) which empowers the heads of state or government (AKA: the European Council) to decide, unanimously, that they want to stop making decisions in a particular area by unanimity and start making decisions by qualified majority vote (QMV).
Europe Editor Sean Whelan, RTE (RTÉ is a Public Service Broadcaster, a non-profit making organisation owned by the Irish people.) 30 June 2009
For all you Lisbon Treaty Nerds, this is a very interesting ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court. What stands out for me is that it is further confirmation that the Germans see very definite limits on how far EU integration can go.
Rolf Gustavsson:
Precis som när Maastrichtfördraget behandlades i författningsdomstolen (1992) sätter Tysklands högsta jurister gränser på en lång rad områden för hur långt den europeiska integrationen ska kunna gå utan att hota det demokratiska styrelseskicket.
Domstolen slår fast att EU inte är en ”statsanalog” organisation och att
EU-parlamentet inte representerar ett europeiskt statsfolk.
EU förblir ett förbund mellan självständiga demokratiska stater och EU-parlamentet företräder folken i dessa stater.
Men för att den fortsatta integrationen inte ska skena iväg utom kontroll för de demokratiska instanserna krävs att de ges förstärkta kontrollmöjligheter.
Utan förbättrad parlamentarisk kontroll riskerar demokratin att urholkas, anser domarna i Karlsruhe.
SvD 30 juni 2009, 23.30
Kommentar av Rolf Englund:
Hear! Hear!
Tyskt stopp för Lissabon
BERLIN.Den tyska författningsdomstolen stoppar oväntat ratificeringen av Lissabon-fördraget.
DN 2009-06-30
Själva fördraget står visserligen inte i konflikt med grundlagen, men domstolen kräver en inhemsk lag som stärker det egna parlamentets medverkan. En sådan lag ska nu snabbehandlas i parlamentet.
Att författningsdomstolen i Karlsruhe skulle stoppa Lissabon-fördraget var högst oväntat, många såg proceduren som en formsak innan presidenten skulle kunna godkänna fördraget från tysk sida.
Fördraget hade överklagats till domstolen av flera olika konstellationer, dels en förbundsdagsledamot från konservativa CSU, dels av Vänstern och dels av en grupp jurister.
Gemensam nämnare för de klagande är att de anser att det tyska parlamentet, förbundsdagen, lämnar över för mycket makt till EU och Bryssel.
Författningsdomstolen ger dem delvis rätt.
Tysklands president Horst Köhler måste vänta med att skriva under EU:s nya fördrag.
Den tyska författningsdomstolen kräver att tysk lagstiftning ändras först.
SvD/Bryssel TT:s korrespondent, 30 juni 2009, 23.21
Tidspressen är stor eftersom ett nytt tyskt parlament ska väljas den 27 september och lagstiftningsarbetet helst ska hinnas med innan dess.
Det tyska parlamentet arbetar sin sista dag innan sommaruppehållet på fredag. Men direkt efter domslutet meddelade både förbundskansler Angela Merkels CDU och hennes socialdemokratiska regeringspartner SPD att siktet är inställt på att kalla in parlamentet för extramöten i slutet av sommaren. Enligt tyska medier kan en första behandling av lagändringen ske den 26 augusti och ett slutligt beslut fattas den 8 september.
Många i EU:s institutioner drog en lättnadens suck att det inte blev tvärstopp för fördraget
Reinfeldt välkomnar målsättningen är att klara av lagändringarna innan det tyska valet.
Germany's constitutional court is to publish its judgement on
whether the EU's Lisbon Treaty is compatible with the country's constitution on 30 June.
EU Observer 2/6 2009
The court is examining a complaint by centre-right politician Peter Gauweiler and some left wing deputies that the proposed new rules for the EU would undermine the powers of the national parliament (Bundestag) and therefore the principle of democracy in Germany.
Germany's constitutional court has been handed a second complaint over the EU's Lisbon Treaty
with the potential to delay the country's final ratification of the document for several months.
The complaint is being brought by... former MEP Franz Ludwig Graf Stauffenberg
EU Observer 27/1 2009
They argue that a prognosis on European integration given by the country's constitutional court in a 1993 judgement on the Maastricht Treaty - which paved the way to the euro - has turned out to be false.
The complaint is being brought by Markus Kerber, a commercial lawyer, Dieter Spethmann, a former chief executive of Thyssen, former MEP Franz Ludwig Graf Stauffenberg and economist Joachim Starbatty.
Germany's highest court is already dealing with a separate complaint on the Lisbon treaty by conservative MP Peter Gauweiler. It is due to have a two-day hearing on his complaint - which says the treaty undermines freedoms guaranteed in the German constitution - on 10 and 11 February.
To go into force, the charter still needs to be accepted by Irish citizens, due to have their say in a second referendum later this year and be ratified in the Czech Republic.
Meanwhile, Poland's president Lech Kaczynski has said he will only formally approve the treaty if Ireland says Yes in autumn.
For its part, Germany has to hand the papers of the Lisbon treaty over in Rome for complete ratification to have taken place.
The president, Horst Koehler, is waiting for the court judgement before making the move.
Wikipedia Franz-Ludwig_Schenk_Graf_von_Stauffenberg
STAUFFENBERG'S SON ON TOM CRUISE FILM 'It's Bound To Be Rubbish'
Tom Cruise is planning to make a film about the 1944 bomb plot against Hitler, playing leading conspirator Claus von Stauffenberg. Stauffenberg's son is not impressed, and has told Cruise to "keep his hands off my father."