German parliament hears new EU treaty law as ratification clock ticks

August 26, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

Treaty supporter Merkel faces a tense time as Germany decides

Germany’s Bundestag is debating new legislation which would oblige the government to reveal its involvement in European Union intergovernmental business, a major hurdle in Germany’s ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

The first reading of the new law, in an unusual step, is taking place during the Bundestag’s official summer holiday. The move comes as pressure from Brussels increases on Germany to approve the bill before the German election on September 27. EU officials fear that if Germany fails to ratify the Lisbon Treaty by then, it could bolster opponents of the treaty in the three other nations that have yet to endorse it: Ireland, the Czech Republic and Poland.

Ministers will debate whether the new proposals – which would give the Bundestag access to all relevant EU documents and the option to meet on any subject the government is discussing at EU level – not only satisfies the conditions demanded by the Federal Constitutional Court before allowing ratification, but also satisfies the main political parties.

Germany’s top court had ruled in June that the Lisbon Treaty – aimed at streamlining decision-making in the 27-nation EU – must be put on ice until legislation guarding national parliamentary powers was passed. The draft law will now fulfill the constitutional court’s requirements.

The new legislation is a watered-down version of a law which the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), demanded. The CSU had insisted that the law include a number of controversial points, including requiring the government to consult the German parliament in EU negotiations, granting the Constitutional Court the last word on interpreting the Lisbon Treaty and requiring referendums before the bloc can accept new members.

While Wednesday’s reading is a step towards possible ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, worried Eurocrats hope that the Germans will finalize the deal before the country goes to the polls, since the deal is not yet final.

The draft law will again go before the Bundestag – the country’s lower house of parliament – on September 8 and then the Bundesrat upper house on September 18, nine days before the German general election. Read full article…