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Germany parliament gives final approval to bill for ratifying EU reform treaty

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The German Bundesrat gave final approval to a bill Friday that will allow Germany to ratify the EU reform treaty, known as the Lisbon Treaty. Although both houses of Germany's parliament had previously approved the treaty, the German Constitutional Court ruled in June that the treaty could not be ratified without certain parliamentary reforms ensuring Germany's sovereignty. The Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, passed the bill, which was drafted in August, by a vote of 494-46 with two abstentions earlier this month. The bill will now be signed into law by President Horst Koehler, paving the way for the treaty's ratification. Efforts to ratify the treaty in all of the 27 member countries required for approval have met some obstacles. Although the treaty has been approved in 23 countries, Irish voters rejected the treaty last June, leading Czech President Vaclav Klaus to refuse to sign the measure, despite approval by the Czech Senate. Last July, Polish President Lech Kaczynski refused to sign the treaty despite parliamentary approval, calling it "pointless" in light of the Irish rejection. Ireland agreed in June to hold a second referendum after EU leaders agreed to certain concessions.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on September 21, 2009 (boomark / email).