Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T01:40:00.436Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

National Constitutionalism, Openness to International Law and the Pragmatic Limits of European Integration – European Law in the German Constitutional Court from EEC to the PJCC

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The issue of how democratic and constitutional nation states shall square international cooperation with their commitments to constitutionalism, democratic accountability and fundamental rights is a persistent problem that becomes ever more pressing with increasing international integration. The German Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) is well-known for having developed a detailed case law on the extent and forms of delegation of powers from the German state to inter-and supranational organizations.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

1 Esty, Daniel C, Good Governance at the Supranational Scale: Globalizing Administrative Law, 115 Yale Law Journal. 1490; 1495–1499 (2006).Google Scholar

2 Giegerich, Thomas, Europäische Verfassung und Deutsche Verfassung im transnationalen Konstitutionaliserierungsprozeß: Wechselseitige Rezeption, konstitutionelle Evolution und föderale Verflechtung 46–91 (2003).Google Scholar

3 Christian Tomuschat Die Staatsrechtliche Entscheidung für die internationale Offenheit in Handbuch des Staatsrecht vol. VII 483 (Josef Isensee and Paul Kirchhof eds., 1992); Ipsen, Hans Peter, Bundesrepublik Deutschland in den Europäische Gemeinschaften in Handbuch des Staatsrecht vol. VII 767 (Josef Isensee and Paul Kirchhof eds., 1992); Kirchof, Paul, Der Deutsche Staat im Prozeß der europäischen Integration, in Handbuch des Staatsrecht vol. VII 855 (Josef Isensee and Paul Kirchhof eds., 1992); Hillgruber, Christian, Der Nationalstaat in übernationaler Verflechtung, in Handbuch des Staatsrechts vol. II 929 (Joseph Isensee and Paul Kirchhof eds., 2003).Google Scholar

4 Ulrich Fastenrath Die Internationaliseriung des deutschen Grundgesetzes – wie weit trägt die Entgrenzung der Verfassungsstaat in Internationalisierung von Staat und Verfassung im Spiegel des deutschen und japanischen Staats- und Verwaltungsrecht 37 (Rainer Pitschas and Shiego Kisa eds., 2002); Stefan Hobe, Der Offene Verfassungsstaat 142–163 (1998).Google Scholar

5 E.g. in relation to international economic law, Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, Constitutional Functions and Constitutional Problems of International Economic Law 155–168; 205–210 (1991).Google Scholar

6 Kirchhof, Paul, Die Parliament als Mitte der Demokratie in Der Staat des Grundgesetzes – FS Peter Badura 237 (Michael Brenner et al. eds., 2004).Google Scholar

7 Udo di Fabio, Verfassungsstaat in Weltgesellschaft 38–41; 87–88; 100–112 (2001); Udo di Fabio, Recht offener Staaten 43–48 (1998).Google Scholar

8 Karl-Heinz Ladeur, Negative Freiheitsrechte und die Selbstorganiseriung des Gesellschafts (1999).Google Scholar

9 Alexander Bickel, The Least Dangerous Branch (1961).Google Scholar

10 See Chander, Anupam, Globalization and Distrust 115 Yale Law Journal. 1193 (2005).Google Scholar

11 Posner, Eric, Transnational Legal Process and the Supreme Court's 2003–2004: Some Sceptical Observations, 12 Tulsa Journal of Comparative and International Law 23 (2005).Google Scholar

12 Ulrich Everling, Vom Zweckverband zur Europäischen Union – überlegungen zur Struktur der Europäischen Gemeinschaft, in Das Europäische Gemeinschaft im Spannungsfiel von Politik und Wirtschaft 32–51 (1985).Google Scholar

13 Rasmussen, Hjalte, The European Court of Justice (1999).Google Scholar

14 Weiler, Joseph H. H., Eurocracy and Distrust Some Questions Concerning the Role of the European Court of Justice in the Protection of Fundamental Human Rights within the Legal Order of the European Communities, 61 Washington University Legal.Quarterly 1103 (1986); Stone, Alec Sweet, Governing with Judges (2000).Google Scholar

15 Majone, Giandomenico, International Economic Integration, National Autonomy, Transnational Democracy: An Impossible Trinity? (RSCAS Working Papers, EUI RSC 2002/48).Google Scholar

16 Hans-Peter Folz, Demokratie und Integration 28–31 (1999); Steinberger, Helmuth, Aspekte der Rechtsprechung des Bundesverfassungsgericht zum Verhältnis zwischen Europäischem Gemeinschaftsrecht und deutschem Recht, in Staat und Völkerrechtsordnung – FS Karl Doehring 951 (Kay Hailbronner et al. eds., 1989); Entscheidungen des Bundesverfassungsgerichts (BVerfGE) 37, 270; BVerfGE 73, 339.Google Scholar

17 Steinberger, Helmuth, Die Europäische Union im Lichte der Entscheidung des Bundesverfasungsgericht vom. 12. Oktober 1993, in Recht Zwischen Umbruch und Bewahrung – FS Rudolf Bernhardt 1313 (Ulrich Beyerlin et al. eds., 1995); BVerfGE 89, 155.Google Scholar

18 BVerfGE 97, 350.Google Scholar

19 BVerfGE 95, 370.Google Scholar

20 Aziz, Miriam, Sovereignty Lost, Sovereignty Regained? Some Reflections on the Bundesverfassungsgericht's Bananas Judgment 18–22 (RSC Working Papers 2001/31, Florence 2001), http://www.iue.it/RSCAS/WP-Texts/01_31.pdf; BVerfGE 102, 147.Google Scholar

21 Hofmann, Rainer, The German Federal Constitutional Court and Public International Law: New Decisions, New Approaches? 47 German Yearbook of International Law 9 (2004); Zumbansen, Peer, Globalization and the Law: Deciphering the Message of Transnational Human Rights Litigation, 5 German Law Journal 1499 (2004); BVerfGE 111, 307.Google Scholar

22 Kokott, Juliane, German Constitutional Jurisprudence and European Integration I, 2 European Public Law, 237 (1996); Kokott, Juliane, German Constitutional Jurisprudence and European Integration II, 2 European Public Law, 413 (1996).Google Scholar

23 Rudold Streinz, Bundesverfassungsgerichtlicher Grundrechtsschutz und Europäisches Gemeinschaftsrecht 43–50 (1989).Google Scholar

24 Coppel, Jason & O'Neill, Aidan, The European Court of Justice Taking Rights Seriously?, 29 Common Market Law Review 669 (1992).Google Scholar

25 BVerfGE 37, 277278.Google Scholar

26 BVerfGE 37, 278.Google Scholar

27 BVerfGE 37, 279283.Google Scholar

28 BVerfGE 37, 296299.Google Scholar

29 BVerfGE 73, 339.Google Scholar

30 BVerfGE 73, 349351.Google Scholar

31 BVerfGE 73, 366367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

32 Petra Funk-Rüffert, Kooperation von Europäischem Gerichtshof und Bundesverfassungsgericht im Bereich des Grundrechtsschutzes 25–29 (1999).Google Scholar

33 Arnold, Rainer, The Treaty on European Union and German Constitutional Law: The German Constitutional Court's Decision of October 12, 1993, on the Treaty of Maastricht, 9 Tulane European and Civil Law Forum 91 (1994); Meessen, Karl M, Hedging European Integration: The Maastricht Judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, 17 Fordham International Law Journal 511 (1993–1994); Wiegandt, Manfred H., Germany's International Integration: The Rulings of the German Federal Constitutional Court on the Maastricht Treaty and the Out-of-Area Deployment of German Troops, 10 American University Journal of International Law & Policy 889 (1994–1995); Wieland, Joachim, Germany in the European Union - The Maastricht Decision of the Bundesverfassungsgericht, 5 European Journal of International Law 259 (1994); Streinz, Rudolf, German Membership in Supranational and International Organizations After the Maastricht and AWACS/Somalia Decision of the Federal Constitutional Court 89 American Society of International Law Procedure 259 (1995).Google Scholar

34 BVerfGE 89.Google Scholar

35 One important issue seems to be that whereas the functional approach to international law-making has always been central, the EC/EU is unique because it amasses such a number of functional powers, since the normal form of delegation to such institutions has been to delegate to a great variety of mainly technical organizations with very limited goals, and generally without much direct political input. See Detter, Ingrid, Law Making of International Organisations (1965); See also Klabbers, Jan, International Institutional Law (2001).Google Scholar

36 BVerfGE 89, 159160.Google Scholar

38 Franz C Mayer, Kompetenzüberschreitung und Letzentscheidung 58–62 (1995).Google Scholar

39 BVerfGE 89, 159.Google Scholar

40 Steinberger, supra note 17, at 1331–1332. It also seems noticeable that the FCC has consistently regarded implicit or conventional constitutional changes in the EC/EU as changes in the German domestic constitutional order, insofar institutions that are competent to take measures binding on German authorities and citizens. In that sense, the FCC has continued with a relatively substantive conception of what the constitution includes. However, the extensive understanding of constitutions can create a problem in that too many norms are understood as constitutionalized, i.e. that they might be misinterpreted as more stable than they actually are.Google Scholar

41 Gustavsson, Sverker, Preserve or abolish the democratic deficit?, in National Parliaments as Corner Stones of European Integration 100 (Eivind Smith ed., 1994).Google Scholar

42 Harlow, Carol, Accountability in the European Union (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

43 BVerfGE 89, 185189.Google Scholar

44 BVerfGE 89, 182183.Google Scholar

45 Id. at 171–72.Google Scholar

46 Id. at 171–73.Google Scholar

47 Id. at 173–74.Google Scholar

48 Id. at 178.Google Scholar

49 BVerfGE 97, 350.Google Scholar

50 Id. at 368–69.Google Scholar

51 Id. at 368–70.Google Scholar

52 I will not discuss in this paper constitutional issues emerging from the accession to the EMU, suffice to say that they seem of limited relevance to this study.Google Scholar

53 BVerfGE 95, 370 (370–371).Google Scholar

54 One of the interesting aspects of that seems also to be that since the FCC has largely relied on that kind of categorizations is of course also that it has simultaneously used such categorizations as a way to assess the proportionality of limitations of rights, which if nothing else shows that the protection of fundamental rights in general has a tendency to mix various forms of categorizations and more discretionary forms of judicial reasoning.Google Scholar

55 Everling, Ulrich, Will Europe Slip on Bananas? The Bananas Judgement of the Court of Justice and National Court, 33 Common Market Law Review 401 (1996); Nettesheim, Martin, Grundrechtliche Prüfdichte durch den EuGH, Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht 106 (1995).Google Scholar

56 Hoffmeister, Frank, German Bundesverfassungsgericht: Alcan Decision of 17 February 2000; Constitutional review of EC Regulation on Bananas, Decision of 7 June 2000, 39 Common Market Law Review 791 (2001); Elbers, Uta & Urban, Nikolaus, The Order of the German Federal Constitutional Court of 7 June 2000 and the Kompetenz-Kompetenz in the European Judicial System, 7 European Public Law 21 (2001).Google Scholar

57 BVerfGE 102, 147.Google Scholar

58 Id. at 156.Google Scholar

59 Id. at 161.Google Scholar

60 Elbers & Urban, supra note 56, at 32.Google Scholar

61 Bundesverfassungsgerict (BVerfG – Federal Constitutional Court), 2 BvR 2236/04, para. 1–201, (July 18, 2005), http://www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/rs20050718_2bvr223604.html; Klaus Michael Böhm, Das Europäische Haftbefehlsgesetz und seine rechtsstatlichen Mängel, 58 Neue Juristische Wochenschrift 2588, 2588–90 (2005); Simone Mölders, The European Arrest Warrant in the German Constitutional Court 7 German Law Journal 45–58 (2006)Google Scholar

(www.germanlawjournal.com/pdf/Vol07No01/PDF_Vol_07_No_1_45-58_Developments_Moelders.pdf, visited May 22, 2006); Parga, Alicia Hinarejos, Bundesverfassungsgericht (German Constitutional Court), Decision of 18 July 2005 (2 BvR 2236/04) on the German Arrest Warrant Law, 43 Common Market Law Review 583 (2006); Vennemann, Nicola, The European Arrest Warrant and Its Human Rights Implications 63 Heidelberg Journal of International Law 103 (2003); Vogel, Joachim, Europäischer Haftbefehl und deutsches Verfassungsrecht 60 JuristenZeitung 801 (2005).Google Scholar

62 Council Framework Decision, 2002/584/JHA, 2002 O.J. (L 190) 1.Google Scholar

63 Bundesverfassungsgerict (BVerfG – Federal Constitutional Court), 2 BvR 2236/04, para. 74, (July 18, 2005), http://www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/rs20050718_2bvr223604.html.Google Scholar

64 Id. at para. 82.Google Scholar

65 In the Maria Pupino case, the ECJ held that a framework decision on the standing of victims of crime in the criminal procedure was directly applicable also in states that had not incorporated the provisions of the framework decision in their national legislation. The reason for that was partly the ECJ regards framework decisions to be structurally similar to directives and that they might thus be interpreted as having a similar “indirect direct effect”. Framework decisions are structurally to directives in the way they are drafted and in the way the legal basis for them in the TEU is framed similarly to the legal basis of directives in EC-law, i.e. they are to be effective with respect to their objective but the Member states are free to pursue that objective however they see fit. A more reasonable interpretation of the structural difference between EC-law and EU-law in the second and third pillar would be to see the latter as a response by the Member states to the ECJ's tendency to make all legislative instruments of the EC directly effective. If the Member states had wished to make framework decisions directly effective, they could have been incorporated in EC-law, rather than being created within a different institutional structure. In relation to that, the decision of the ECJ seems very problematic as it is a quite radical attempt to “supranationalize” the intergovernmental parts of the EU. Case C-105/03, Criminal Proceedings against Maria Pupino, 2005 E.C.R. I-5285.Google Scholar

66 BVerfGE 37, 270 (278–79).Google Scholar

67 2 BvR 2236/04 para. 81–82Google Scholar

68 Id. para. 79–81Google Scholar

69 Kokott, , supra note 22, at 243–246.Google Scholar

70 Bundesverfassungsgerict (BVerfG – Federal Constitutional Court), 2 BvR 2236/04, para. 79, (July 18, 2005), http://www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/rs20050718_2bvr223604.html.Google Scholar

71 2 BvR 2236/04 para. 73–74Google Scholar

72 From that it is also clear that the FCC distinguishes between obligations under public international law, and obligations under EC-law, which is also the approach taken by art. 23 Basic Law. The FCC does thus implicitly also reject the “internationalist” view of the EC as an international organisation created under treaty-law of customary international law.Google Scholar

73 Waite v. Germany, 30 Eur. Ct. H.R. 261 (2000).Google Scholar

74 Matthews v. UK, 28 Eur. Ct. H.R. 361 (1999).Google Scholar

75 Bundesverfassungsgerict (BVerfG – Federal Constitutional Court), 2 BvR 2236/04, para. 119, (July 18, 2005), http://www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/rs20050718_2bvr223604.html.Google Scholar

76 It seems hard given the case law of the FCC to sketch a very detailed understanding of the constitutional hierarchy of international obligations, but it seems possible to assume that EC-law has a special status, as has also human rights obligations and then “ordinary” bi- and multilateral treaties.Google Scholar

77 BVerfGE 111, 307 (317–19).Google Scholar

78 Id. at 318–319; Hofmann, , supra note 21, 1823.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

79 Bundesverfassungsgerict (BVerfG – Federal Constitutional Court), 2 BvR 2236/04, para. 77–78; 93–94, (July 18, 2005), http://www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/rs20050718_2bvr223604.html.Google Scholar

80 Id. at para. 96–97.Google Scholar

81 Id. at para. 76.Google Scholar

82 Id. at para. 78–79; Huster, Stefan, Die Beobachtungspflicht der Gesetzgeber, 25 Zeitschrift für Rechtssoziologie 3, 1114; 15–17 (2003).Google Scholar

83 BVerfGE 89, 155 (186–187); Lindseth, Peter L, Democratic Legitimacy and the Administrative Character of Supranationalism: the Example of the European Community, 99 Columbia Law Review 628 (1999).Google Scholar

84 Kirchhof, supra note 6, 257262.Google Scholar

85 Haltern, Ulrich R, Verfassungsgerichtbarkeit, Demokratie und Mißtrauen 211–37 (1997); Frankenberg, Günter, Verfassung der Republik 281–87, (1996).Google Scholar

86 Id. at 211–212.Google Scholar

87 Holmes, Stephen, Precommitment and the Paradox of Democracy, in Constitutionalism and Democracy 195 (Jon Elster and Rune Slagstad eds., 1987).Google Scholar

88 Fabio, Udo di, Gewaltenteilung, in 2 Handbuch des Staatsrechts 613 (Paul Kirchhof and Joseph Isensee eds., 2nd ed. 2003).Google Scholar

89 Knies, Wolfgang, Auf dem Weg in den “verfassungsgerichtlichen Jurisdiktionsstaat,” in Verfassungsstaatlichkeit – FS Klaus Stern 1155 (Joachim Burmeister ed., 1997).Google Scholar

90 Pildes, Richard H., The Constitutionalization of Democratic Politics, 118 Harvard Law Review 29, 3540 (2004). Pildes points to the problems that emerge in the constitutionalization of political procedures which requires courts to consider ever more substantive issues. This, in turn, either leads to the legal system resolving issues which it is unable to do competently and effectively, undermining legitimacy or leading to too extensive judicialisation. The extensive judicialisation of procedural issues (or of what purport to be procedural issues) was present in the Maastricht and EMU cases where the problem concerned the dilution of the right to vote, but where the procedural issues were intertwined with problems of substantive policy issues.Google Scholar

91 See Levinson, Daryl and Pildes, Richard H., Separation of Parties, not Powers, 119 Harvard Law Review 2311 (2006).Google Scholar

92 Haltern, , supra note 85, at 177–180; 180–186.Google Scholar

93 Id. at 230–241.Google Scholar

94 Eskridge, William N., Pluralism and Distrust: How Courts Can Support Democracy by Lowering the Stakes of Politics, 114 Yale Law Journal 1279 (2005).Google Scholar

95 The notion of the court as the “guardian of the constitution” is important as it seems to refer to a wider understanding of the jurisdiction of the highest court or the constitutional court than what is visible if one understood it in conventional terms of jurisdiction. The notion of “guardian of the constitution” also points to the fact that the court has a clearly political role, and that it is a role that might be exercised in conflict with the political branches of government. It also seems to lead to a rejection of ideas of constitutional “departmentalism” or doctrines of “political questions” where courts, on the basis of considerations of constitutional structure, avoid making decisions on certain politically contentious issues. For a theoretical background see Schmitt, Carl, Legalität und Legitimität, inVerfassungsrechtliche Aufsätze 293–335 (1932/1958); Kelsen, Hans, Wer Soll der Hüter der Verfassung Sein? in Die Wiener Rechtstheoretische Schule 1873 (Hans Klecatsky ed., 1968).Google Scholar

96 Hans-Jürgen Papier, Der Bundesverfassungsgericht als “Hüter der Grundrechte,” in Der Staat des Grundgesetzes – FS Peter Badura 411 (Michael Brenner et al. eds., 2004).Google Scholar

97 Bundesverfassungsgerict (BVerfG – Federal Constitutional Court), 2 BvR 2236/04, para. 185–201, (July 18, 2005), http://www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/rs20050718_2bvr223604.html.Google Scholar

98 Id. at para. 155–184.Google Scholar

99 Id. at para. 184; 201.Google Scholar

100 Id. at para. 84.Google Scholar

101 Wasmeier, Martin, Der Europäische Haftbefehl vor dem Bundesverfassungsgericht – Zur Verzahnung des nationalen und europäsichen Strafrechts, 23 Zeitschrift für Europarechtliche Studien 1 (2006).Google Scholar

102 Sunstein, Cass R., Constitutionalism and Secession, 58 University of Chicago Law Review 633, 636643 (1991).Google Scholar

103 BVerfGE 37, 281Google Scholar

104 On the other hand, that has, of course, a cost in terms of the legal certainty of individuals, since it is, at least at the level of principle, not clear when a court reserves the right to review measures under EC law. One could also more generally say that the piecemeal approach of “one case at a time” has certain advantages in terms of democratic accountability since it provides plenty of opportunities for political responses to judicial decisions, but it also seems clear that it as an approach that undermines the extent and role of precedence, and thereby also weakens certainty and clarity of law.Google Scholar

105 Bermann, George A., Regulatory Federalism, 263 Recueil des Cours 13, 6473 (1997).Google Scholar

106 The blurring of the distinction between protection of civil rights and economic rights has been a recent problem in EC law. See Case T-306/01, Kadi and Al-Yusuf v. Council and Commission, (decided 21 September 2005 not yet reported, under appeal); Case T-253/02 Ayadi-Hassan v. Council (decided 12 July 2006, not yet reported). The problem that arises is that what is understood as a matter of economic regulation also has severe repercussions on the civil rights of the parties concerned, whereas the judicial control of such regulation, despite that, still is limited to the lower level scrutiny which the court uses in relation to economic rights.Google Scholar

107 For application in the context of US Constitutional Law, see Ackerman, Bruce, Reconstructing American Law (1984).Google Scholar

108 Slaughter, Anne-Marie, A Global Community of Courts, 44 Harvard International Law Journal 191 (2003).Google Scholar

109 Funk-Rüffert, supra note 32, at 40–55; 89–103; 121–126.Google Scholar

110 Tomuschat, Christian, Ungereimt es. Zum Urteil des Bundesverfassungsgerichts vom 18. Juli 2005 über den Europäischen Haftbefehl, 32 europaeische grundrechte-zeitschrift 453 (2005).Google Scholar

111 Ely, John Hart, Democracy and Distrust (1982); Haltern, Ulrich R., High Time for a Check-Up – Progressivism, Populism and Constitutional Review in Germany (Jean Monnet Working Paper, 5/1996), available at http://www.jeanmonnetprogram.org/papers/96/9605ind.html; Haltern, supra note 85, at 423–428.Google Scholar

112 Tushnet, Mark, Darkness on the Edge of Town: The Contributions of John Hart Ely to Constitutional Theory, 89 Yale Law Journal 1037 (1979–1980).Google Scholar

113 The kind of cooperation between judicial institutions that cooperative constitutionalism implies in this respect (as well as in respect to political cooperation) can be more or less extensive, but it seems to be conceptually rooted in public international law, where cooperation is a part of the general principles of pacta sunt servanda and comity.Google Scholar