Germany's Bundesrat upper house of parliament has cleared the way for the country to ratify the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, which is designed to streamline decision-making in the 27-nation bloc. Germany's 16 federal states on Friday voted unanimously to adopt amendments to domestic law that make the EU reform treaty more compatible with German law. The Bundestag lower house of parliament had passed the laws earlier this month. Both houses of the German parliament had already endorsed the 2007 Lisbon Treaty. But the process was halted by the constitutional court on June 30 following a legal challenge by a group of federal deputies who demanded a law protecting national parliamentary powers and giving them more of a say in decision- making in Brussels to be passed. The Lisbon Treaty is considered officially ratified by Germany once President Horst Köhler has signed the document.
Germany's 16 federal states on Friday voted unanimously to adopt amendments to domestic law that make the EU reform treaty more compatible with German law. The Bundestag lower house of parliament had passed the laws earlier this month.
Both houses of the German parliament had already endorsed the 2007 Lisbon Treaty. But the process was halted by the constitutional court on June 30 following a legal challenge by a group of federal deputies who demanded a law protecting national parliamentary powers and giving them more of a say in decision- making in Brussels to be passed.
The Lisbon Treaty is considered officially ratified by Germany once President Horst Köhler has signed the document.
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
cf. however
http://www.germanlawjournal.com/past_issues_archive.php?show=8&volume=10
