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| REFERENDUMS
HELD ON EUROPEAN MATTERS: none |
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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. |
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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. |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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)
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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)
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PROCEDURE
Parliamentary
vote |
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| 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. |
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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) |
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