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Constitutional Reservations against Maastricht Dismissed (November 3, 1993)

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– The future development of the Union remains open. But the German Bundestag must retain substantive authority, if – as is presently the case – the people convey their democratic legitimation through their national parliaments in an association of states.

– Nothing specific was said on the role of the federal states, since the court rejected the corresponding censures (principle of federalism) as inadmissible from the outset.

– The concept of EMU (Economic and Monetary Union) was fully confirmed. In particular, there is no automatism governing entrance into the third stage. The EMU is a self-contained and sustainable concept; a parallelism between the EMU and a political union is not provided for under constitutional law.

– The realization of the EMU depends decisively on the evolution of convergence in the EC countries; this was confirmed by the court. Therefore, it is imperative that the individual member states now substantially increase their national efforts to achieve convergence. It is also important to take full advantage of all procedures and instruments available to increase the coordination of economic policies among the EC countries.

– The court made it clear that convergence must have priority over deadlines. It emphasized that the deadlines mentioned in the treaty should be seen as objectives, in accordance with established Community tradition.



Source: “Gemeinsame Tischvorlage des Auswärtigen Amtes und des Bundesministeriums der Finanzen zur Kabinettssitzung am 3. November 1993” [“Joint Handout by the German Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of Finances for the Cabinet Session on November 3, 1993”], in Außenpolitik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Dokumente von 1949 bis 1994 [Foreign Policy of the Federal Republic of Germany. Documents from 1949 to 1994], published on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Foreign Office, Cologne 1995, pp. 971-74.

Translation: Allison Brown

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