Pris sur Eurodemocrats.org :

The EU Constitution will not be ratified in Germany Thursday, 2. November 2006

The German Supreme Court announced this Tuesday that it will postpone [ajournera] the decision about the destiny of the EU Constitution in Germany. The Court’s decision will be delayed [retardée] until after there is final agreement on the Constitution at a political level, stating that it did not want to influence the political decision-making process.

Chronology : The EU Constitution was signed by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on 29 October 2004 in Brussels. Than it passed the German Bundestag on 12 May 2005 and the Bundesrat on 27 May 2005. But to be ratified it must be signed by the German President Horst Köhler. Before that happened Bavarian CSU MP, Dr. Peter Gauweiler, filed a Supreme Court lawsuit [recourt] on the basis that the EU Constitution would deprive the Berlin Parliament of its power. Referring to the pending decision Horst Köhler made a clear statement that he did not sign the document before the German Supreme Court would have spoken. So the ratification process was blocked.

A decision was expected during 2007. But nevertheless politicians and media considered Germany as a country that has ratified the EU Constitution. This is now finally proven wrong [avéré faux] by a decision made by the German Supreme Court this Tuesday, to postpone the whole case most probably until 2009. As for the French and Dutch people said “No” to the EU Constitution and currently there are political debates about how to solve the constitutional crises of the EU, the German Supreme Court argued that it “does not want to get into the role of a co-designer of the European constitutional process”.

Without the Court’s verdict the EU Constitution cannot be ratified in Germany.

For the complainant Dr. Peter Gauweiler and his representative at the court Prof. Karl Albrecht Schachtschneider this is a great success : « The EU constitution has in all probability also failed in Germany », said Gauweiler.

Sources : EUObserver Open Europe Die Welt