Yesterday, 30 June 2009, the German Constitutional Court rejected two challenges, brought by groups of right- and left-wing parliamentarians, against the German legislative act which would ratify the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty saying there were “no decisive constitutional objections to the act approving the Treaty of Lisbon”. Horst Köhler, the German president, had refused to sign the ratification act until after the court’s ruling.

Although the German Constitutional Court rejected the claims challenging the constitutionality of the Lisbon Treaty, it suspended the treaty’s ratification until the German parliament passes the ratification law amending various aspects of the German constitution to give legislative jurisdiction to the EU in the matters called for by the Lisbon Treaty. The Federal Constitutional Court’s vice president told the Financial Times that the court is “confident that this last hurdle before the submission of the ratification instrument can be overcome quickly.”

Germany is obliged to ratify the treaty before 2010 and the government is now confident that all necessary amendments to the ratification law will be passed in time. Final approval should take place on September 8. However, the governing Grand Coalition cannot pass the bill without the support from at least parts of the opposition since the bill requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament. It therrefore now seems to depend on the opposition whether or not the amendments will be enacted and the ratification act passed before the federal election of September 27.