Brussels, 29/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - In a press release, CSU MEP Markus Ferber welcomes the fact the German Constitutional Court has rejected as non receivable the complaint by Peter Gauweiler against the ratification of the European Constitution by the Bundestag (see EUROPE No.8937). Peter Gauweiler, Bundestag MEP and member of the CSU, asked the Karlsruhe Court to note that the Bundestag did not have the authority to vote on the Constitution because it brings changes that require a referendum.
The Bundestag will ratify the Constitution on 12 May, and the Bundesrat will probably ratify it on 27 May. A two-thirds majority seems likely in both houses of the German parliament. Especially since in a meeting on Thursday with the Minister Presidents of Bavaria, Baden-Wurttemberg, Rheinland-Palatinate and Berlin, Gerhard Schroder said he was planning to give the Länder greater influence in future on European legislation under preparation (through involvement in the federal government's preparation of White and Green Papers). The Minister President of Bavaria, Edmund Stoiber, is reported in the Financial Times Deutschland as saying this would be a substantial improvement. Hans-Gert Pöttering welcomes the signal being sent to France (the danger of postponing the Bundesrat vote until June has been averted).