La sentencia del Tribunal Constitucional Alemán sobre el Tratado de Maastricht
1994; Centro de Estudios Constitucionales; Volume: 21; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0210-0924
Autores Tópico(s)Taxation and Legal Issues
ResumoThe Maastricht Judgment of the German Federal Constitutional Court is its sofar most fundamental decision on the relationship between European Integration and German Constitutional Law. The Court characterises the European Union af its present stage as a «compound of States» («Staatenverbund»); whethen Germany could become part of «United States of Europe» on the basis of the existing German Constitution, is left undecided. The crucial dictum in the judgement is that also the publie power of a supranational organisation is in need of democratic legitimation, and that at the present state of integration that legitimation has to be provided primarily by the peoples of the Member States and their national Parliament. In the judgment the Court stresses that a progressive interpretation of the Community's competences shall in no case amount to an amendment of the Treaty, and goes on to say that legal acts of the Community would not be binding upon German autorities if they are based on an interpretation which oversteps the boundaries of the Treaty. It also appears thar the Court is no longer prepared to leave the protection of human rights vis-a-vis acts of the Union entirely and exclusively to the ECJ, a fact that is more revealed than hidden by term «co-operation». As a whole, the judgement is not without exeption favourable to integration, but on the other hand it will not necessarily lead to a stand-still of integration if the national control over the integration process, which the Court claimed at least for itself, will be exercised with caution and restraint.
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