Karlsruhe, Germany - Germany's highest court ruled Tuesday
that the Lisbon Treaty on European Union reform is compatible with
German law, but held back approval for immediate ratification.
German opponents of the reform treaty challenged it in the
nation's constitutional court, arguing the document undermined German
sovereignty.
Both houses of the German parliament have endorsed the treaty, but
President Horst Koehler withheld his signature pending the decision
by the constitutional court.
The court ruled that Germany's approval of the treaty was
constitutional, but said changes were needed in German legislation
implementing it in order to ensure parliament maintained a key role
in matters of national sovereignty.
Only when this happened could ratification be completed, the
court's vice president, Andreas Vosskuhle, said in reading out the
150-page judgement.
'The court is optimistic that the last hurdle before ratification
will be cleared quickly,' he added.
The case was brought by a group led by Peter Gauweiler, a maverick
deputy in Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU), and the radical
Left Party. The Left claims the treaty breaches parliamentary rights.
In addition to Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and Ireland
have still to approve the treaty before it can come into force at the
start of 2010.
Outright rejection of the treaty would have sounded a death knell
for the future of the 27 EU states' reform process.
The Lisbon Treaty replaced the earlier proposed EU constitution,
which was rejected by French and Dutch voters in referendums in 2005.
The treaty would, among other reforms, create a post of president
of the European Union, and a permanent high representative for
foreign affairs, and bring in more qualified majority voting.
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