Sovereignty lost, sovereignty regained? Some reflections on the Bundesverfassungsgericht’s Bananas Judgment

Article abstract:

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the role of the German Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) as an institutional actor which has been instrumental in the German debate concerning European integration and the doctrine of sovereignty in the light of one case in particular, namely, the so-called Banana Case. The analytical framework within which the role and the position of the state in the process of European Integration is customarily interpreted by the main protagonists of the German academic debate will be assessed. References to the previous cases concerning European Integration decided by the BVerfG shall be made for the purposes of the discussion only. In particular, it will be examined to what extent, if at all, there is a corollary between the concept of a unitary, homogenous state and a juridical debate concerning European integration which its proponents seek to ensure is also unitary and homogenous as opposed to being able to accommodate a plurality of views.