nejtillemu.com

Former MEP Franz Ludwig Graf Stauffenberg

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.

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.

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

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.

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."

Filmen »Valkyria«, om Stauffenberg-attentatet mot Hitler
som »Cabaret«, där en tvålfager hitlerungdom sjunger det utopistiska pekoralet
»Tomorrow Belongs to Me« tills nästan alla gäster på det landsortstyska värdshuset,
oavsett kön, klass och ålder har hittat en gemensam nazi-melodi. Scenen är en propaganda-pastisch,
som illustrerar hur läskigt och lockande ett löfte om en lyckligare framtid kan vara.
Johanna Koljonen, Fokus, 27/2 2009