Constitution (2004)

REFERENDUMS HELD ON EUROPEAN MATTERS: none

CONSTITUTIONAL CONDITIONS - The Basic Law of Germany

Binding referendum requires implementation by constitutional amendment. Consultative referendum can anyhow be held if ordered by ad-hoc-law.

ARTICLES ABOUT INTERNATIONAL TREATIES, REFERENDUM AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

Regulation about a special transference of power to EU:
none

Approval of transfer of sovereignty without effect of constitutional amendment:
Majority of votes from both chambers, Bundestag and Bundesrat, Art. 23 I 2 Basic Law

Approval of transfer of sovereignty with effect of constitutional amendment:
Majority of 2/3 from the members of parliament and 2/3 of votes from the senate, Art. 23 I 3, 79 II Basic Law. Limit of transfer is the "clause of eternity" for the fundamental principles of the constitution, Art. 23 I 3, 79 III, 20 Basic Law.

Approval of constitutional amendment:
Majority of 2/3 from the members of parliament and 2/3 of the votes from senate, Art. 79 II Basic Law.

Other constitutional regulations about referendums:
Referendum mentioned in Art. 29, 118 Basic Law for a new formation of the federal states. Art. 20 Basic Law mentions expressly that the people practise their sovereignty besides election and through special organs of legislation and execution by holding referenda.

RATING AND DEBATE

• Formal ratification of the EU treaty in Germany may be delayed, since, according to a report in the daily Die Welt, politicians from the Left Party as well as Peter Gauweiler, a centre-right politician from one of the governing parties -the CSU - have been examining the text of the EU treaty to see if they can bring a case before the Constitutional Court, complaining that the Lisbon treaty took too much power away from the national parliament and that the document overstepped the boundaries that the German constitution provides for the integration of state institutions in the EU. If they put the case before the Court, the President will then have to decide whether to go ahead and sign off the treaty anyway or wait for the Court to make its case.
• Professor Hans-Juergen Papier, President of Germany's constitutional court, suggested that while democracy has been strengthened in the EU's new treaty, a key innovation involving national parliaments does not go far enough and member states have no guarantee that EU powers will not continue to grow.
• On 24.04.2008 German Bundestag (the lower house of parliament) voted overwhelmingly to ratify the Lisbon treaty. The Bundestag voted 515 to approve the treaty versus 58 against and one abstention. German Chancellor Angela Merkel lobbied for the treaty in a speech before parliament Thursday, saying it was essential to help the European Union emerge from gridlock. "Europe will be stronger next year and more self-assured than ever before," she said.
• The upper house of the German parliament approved on 23.05.2008 the Lisbon Treaty, the treaty will now go to President Horst Koehler for approval. Fifteen Länder out of 16 voted in favour of the text; only the representatives of the City-State of Berlin abstained.
• On 8.09.2009 the lower house passed legislation allowing the final ratification of the EU's Lisbon Treaty. In a special sitting, 446 deputies in the Bundestag voted in favour of a package of laws that would give it more say over EU affairs, and 46 voted against.The legislation, comprising four laws in total, involve the parliament in any possible future changes to the Lisbon Treaty.
• On 23.09.2009 Germany's president Horst Koehler signed the national laws enabling the country to adopt the EU's Lisbon Treaty.

   

Eurobarometer (2006), The Future of Europe - Results for Germany, Special Eurobarometer 251, Fieldwork: 23/02 – 15/03 2006. (PDF)

DECLARATIONS BY THE HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT

Bundesaußenminister Steinmeier F.W. (2007), Rede anlässlich der Debatte zur EU-Regierungskonferenz am 11. Oktober 2007, Deutschen Bundestag. (German) (HTML)

Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel (2007), Speech to the European Parliament reviewing the German EU Presidency. 27.06.2007. (HTML)

German Bundestag (2007), Regierungserklärung und Bundestagsdebatte zum Europäischen Rat am 21./22. Juni 2007, 14.06.2007. (German) (PDF)

Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Steinmeier, Frank-Walter (2007), Speech on the occasion of the WDR Europe Forum, Berlin, 09.05.2007. (HTML)

Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany and President of the European Council Merkel, A. (2007), Speech at the official ceremony to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties of Rome. 25.03.2007. (HTML)

German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Steinmeier, F.W. (2007), Europe is turning 50, Article, 24.03.2007. (HTML)

PROCEDURE

Parliamentary vote

STATE OF THE PROCEDURE

On 24.04.2008 German Bundestag (the lower house of parliament) voted with 515 votes to approve the treaty versus 58 against and one abstention.

The Bundesrat approved on 23.05.2008 the Lisbon Treaty.

RELEVANT DOCUMENTS AND MATERIAL

Gesetz über die Ausweitung und Stärkung der Rechte des Bundestages und des Bundesrates in Angelegenheiten der Europäischen Union, Drucksache 713/09. (PDF)

Gesetz zur Umsetzung der Grundgesetzänderungen für die Ratifizierung des Vertrags von Lissabon (PDF)

Gesetz zur Änderung des Gesetzes über die Zusammenarbeit von Bundesregierung und Deutschem Bundestag in Angelegenheiten der Europäischen Union (PDF)

German Bundestag (2009), Bundestagsdebatte und -abstimmung zu den Begleitgesetzen zum EU-Vertrag von Lissabon, 08/09/2009.

German Bundestag (2009), Gemeinsame öffentliche Anhörung der EU-Ausschüsse von Bundestag und Bundesrat, 26/27.08.2009.

German Federal Constitutional Court (2009), Act Approving the Treaty of Lisbon compatible with the Basic Law; accompanying law unconstitutional to the extent that legislative bodies have not been accorded sufficient rights of participation, BVerfG, 2 BvE 2/08 vom 30.6.2009, Absatz-Nr. (1 - 421). (HTML)

Vetters, R. (2007), The Constitutional Debate Revisited: Patterns of Public Claims-Making in Constitutional Debates in France and Germany 2001-2005, Draft Paper for the ARENA Seminar on September 25th, 2007. (PDF)

Europa-Union Deutschland (2007), 75% der Deutschen wollen Volksbefragung über die EU-Verfassung, EMNID-Umfrage. (German) (PDF)