Germany and the European Union. The EU stops here

Germany's constitutional court puts European integration to the test

ALL eyes may be on France's vote on the EU constitution. But some should perhaps be on Germany, whose constitutional court in Karlsruhe this week began hearing arguments that the common EU arrest warrant violates the German constitution, or “Basic Law”. If the judges agree, the effect could be huge: Brigitte Zypries, the justice minister, has even said Germany “might have to say goodbye to large parts of the EU.”

The judges are unlikely to go so far. But the case shows that Germany is no longer a safe bet for more European integration. Politicians and the media seem surprised at how much sovereignty has shifted to Brussels. Few had noticed that Germany's Basic Law now includes a clause allowing nationals to be extradited to other EU countries. Such discoveries increase Euroscepticism.

This case arose because Mamoun Darkazanli, who has both Syrian and German passports, refused to accept a Hamburg court decision, based on the EU arrest warrant, to extradite him to Spain, where he is charged with helping al-Qaeda. His lawyers filed a complaint with the constitutional court, which suspended the extradition and scheduled a two-day hearing - showing that it considers the case important. The EU arrest warrant may help to fight terrorism and other crimes, but it raises big questions. What remains of a state if it can no longer protect its citizens from foreign powers? Might people be handed over for something that is not a criminal offence at home, such as abortion, legal in Germany but not in Ireland?

At first the government feared that the court might declare the common arrest warrant unconstitutional, which would have put German above European law (a fear underlying Ms Zypries's remarks). But the agenda for this week's hearing suggests that the judges will test only the law implementing the warrant, which goes beyond EU requirements by allowing extradition for crimes committed before it went into effect. Mr Darkazanli is wanted for helping al-Qaeda's attacks on September 11th 2001.

Yet the court also left no doubt that it wants to opine on more fundamental questions. Much of the hearing concerned issues such as the “gradual dissolution of the state through the transfer of core competences”. The court appears to want to set limits on European integration, clarifying previous decisions when it has ruled that parliament must retain substantial powers, and that the Basic Law must remain in force.

Constitutional experts such as Ingolf Pernice of Berlin's Humboldt University wonder how far the court will go. Will it say that the transfer of sovereignty must go no further? Might it even open up the possibility for a complaint against the EU constitution? It would be ironic if, after hard-fought referendums in France and Britain, the constitution fell down in the keenest supporter of integration.

Germany's constitutional court puts European integration to the test. Does the EU arrest warrant violate Germany's 'Basic Law'

• Primary Source

American Institute for Contemporary German Studies: The Johns Hopkins University: Conference Report: Fifty years of German Basic Law: The new departure for Germany, 1999 http://www.aicgs.org/Publications/PDF/basiclaw.pdf

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