Brussels, 30/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - The Lisbon Treaty is compatible with fundamental law but Germany must avail itself of an accompanying law to ensure the rights of the German parliament are guaranteed. This was decided on Tuesday 30 June by the constitutional court in Karlsruhe in its long-awaited ruling on continuation of the ratification process in Germany and elsewhere. The vice-president of the constitutional court, cited by AFP, said that, to summarise, one could say that the constitution says yes to the Lisbon Treaty but requires strengthened responsibility of the parliament at national level when it comes to integration.
The constitutional court takes the view that the accompanying law must secure the German parliament's right of co-decision, on one hand to guarantee the effectiveness of the German citizens' right to vote and, on the other, to ensure that the Union does not exceed the authority granted to it. Pending entry into force of this law that guarantees the rights of parliamentary participation, the instruments of ratification for the Lisbon Treaty cannot be submitted, the Court specifies. This obstacle, however, should be overcome quite rapidly, since the Bundestag may meet in extraordinary session on 26 August with a view to adopting the treaty's accompanying text on 8 September. German President Horst Köhler may then sign the ratification law already approved by the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.
“I am confident that, with this judgement, the Court has cleared the way for a swift conclusion of the German ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, and I welcome the intentions already stated in this respect by German legislators”, said José Manuel Barroso. “I am confident that we can complete the process of ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon in all countries by the autumn”, the Commission president added in a press release. According to the co-president of the Greens at the European Parliament, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the Court's decision “is a positive signal launched to Irish citizens before the referendum scheduled to take place this autumn”. This opinion is shared by CDU elected member Elmar Brok, who also trusts that President Kaczynski of Poland and President Klaus of the Czech Republic will now act in line with their declarations, whereby they link completion of the ratification procedure in their respective countries to the outcome of the case before the constitutional court. (A.B./transl.jl)