Posted on 01/15/2007 7:55:12 AM PST by Lukasz
Germany's state of parliamentary democracy is under threat from the European Union which is slowly taking away all the national parliament's powers, the country's ex-president has said.
In an article for newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Roman Herzog pointed out that between 1999 and 2004, 84 percent of the legal acts in Germany stemmed from Brussels.
"EU policies suffer to an alarming degree from a lack of democracy and a de facto suspension of the separation of powers."
"By far the biggest part of the current laws in Germany are agreed by the council of ministers [member states representation in Brussels] and not the German parliament," Mr Herzog wrote in a paper with Lüder Gerken, director of the Freiburg-based Centre for European Policy.
"And each regulation that the German government adopts in the council of ministers, has to be transplanted by the Bundestag [parliament] into German law."
The article continues by noting that Germany's own constitution foresees the parliament as the "central actor in the shaping of the political community. Therefore the question has to be raised of whether Germany can still unreservedly be called a parliamentary democracy."
The authors also complain that the EU constitution, over which there are currently renewed talks about its revival, will not solve this problem, nor that of the democratic deficit within the EU itself.
As a solution, the article suggests the European Parliament should be turned into a proper legislative assembly - calling this an "urgent requirement."
It also says that the council of ministers should have two chambers for when it is making law. The second chamber's function would be to check that the EU was not over-stepping its competences.
Another major innovation the EU needs, according to the paper, is a clear cut and definitive list of what the powers of the EU are and what the powers of member states are - this was something rejected at the time by the drafters of the constitution because they feared it would put a halt to the EU's evolution.
It suggests the current "mixing of competences" in the constitution will only allow an "even more dynamic appropriation of responsibilities [for the EU]."
Critical point Mr Herzog's words come at a critical point in the EU constitution debate and for Germany itself.
Berlin took over the six-month EU presidency in January and has said it wants to work out a timetable for getting the rejected constitution back on track with chancellor Angela Merkel indicating that she wants to keep as much of the text as possible.
But the comment from the former constitutional judge and president of the bloc's biggest member state between 1994 and 1999 is not an isolated event.
German parliamentarians themselves have also started to complain about not being consulted enough on what their government agrees in Brussels.
In addition, the final technical step for Germany's ratification of the EU constitution is being held up due to a similar complaint.
Although both houses of parliament have overwhelmingly approved the document, Germany's president Horst Köhler has refused to sign it off until the country's constitutional court rules on whether the charter is taking too much power from the national parliament, after a centre-right MP filed a legal complaint in 2005.
at LAST
It is a brave man among the political class of Europe who declares what many outside that class have recognized for years - the EU emperor is naked.
The international socialist movement has subverted rational thought so thoroughly (as it continues to try to do here) that hordes of people do not even realize that the reality presented to them by their leaders and their media is a delusuion, just as it was in the old Soviet Empire and just as it is in all Marxist dominated "solutions".
Well, Mr. Herzog is still German, so the headline should have read ..."German Ex-President" ;-)
He is right, and everybody here should note that he isn´t against the idea of the EU at all, but that he wants certain corrections. And if these corrections aren´t going to be made, the EU will go down by the lack of support of the people.
It also says that the council of ministers should have two chambers for when it is making law.
Another major innovation the EU needs, according to the paper, is a clear cut and definitive list of what the powers of the EU are and what the powers of member states are...
Let's see, convert the beurocracy into a bicemeral legislature with clear constitutional enumeration of the governments' powers and with a quasi-judiciary that rules on whether actions taken by the legislature are in line with the constitutional authority. Actually sounds pretty familir to me. And that's why it will never happen. The most obvious thing to do when trying to establish a new political body / paradigm for Europe that is intended to act as a counterbalance to the US would be to emulate the US. The European elites would be aghast at the idea that the US could be a model for them polticially, so they will never do it. Which is why they will fail in this.
Consider the source, there is no Germans, French or Poles anymore just EUers :)
I didn't realize that the President is an ex-German.
maybe that will be a reason to decrease the number of Bundestagsabgeordnete and save some money?Of course, it will never happen? :)
Dieser Alarmruf
muss alle Politiker in Deutschland wachrütteln. Und jeden Demokraten!
Europa hat den Bundestag entmachtet. 84 Prozent unserer Gesetze werden nicht mehr in Berlin gemacht, sondern in Europa. Im Klartext: Die gewählten Vertreter des deutschen Volkes können den Volkswillen in fast neun von zehn Fällen also gar nicht mehr durchsetzen. Sieht so eine parlamentarische Demokratie aus?
Diese schonungslose Analyse allein birgt schon Zündstoff genug. Aber wenn sie ausgerechnet vom früheren Bundesverfassungsgerichts- und Alt-Bundespräsident Herzog stammt, unterstreicht das die Dramatik. Der Mann weiß, wovon er spricht.
Es wird höchste Zeit, dass Europa dann auch wirklich demokratisch wird. Dass wir die mächtigen Kommissare und den EU-Präsidenten wählen können!
Wie in einer richtigen Demokratie eben ...
Ich habe seinen Beitrag in der Welt am Sonntag gelesen. Er hat Recht. Da gibt es nichts dran zu rütteln, die Gewaltenteilung ist eine wichtige Säule unseres Staatswesens, wen interessiert schon das EU-Parlament, wenn die wichtigen Entscheidungen durch den Europäischen Rat getroffen werden? Herzog war schon ein guter Mahner als er noch Bundespräsident war.
Change country name, change eagle, change language and the new biometric Polish passport appear... I have still old one and just figured out that new model exist because of your post. What a idiots!
Is your passport also made by the Bundesdruckerei (Federal Press)?
Maybe the Voters can call for adecrese in pay for those Abgeordneten.
Since they only have control over 16% of legislation, they could also get paid accordingly?
That would be an interesting debate :) Pay the according to the work they do..........
''We Poles call it the European Union of Homelands, which means political unity under the national identities, not over them. In other words, first will you sing your German national anthem, and then the European one. First will you care for your Deutschland and then for other EU countries, first will you cherish your Christian roots, and then will you allow others to settle in your country, provided that they agree to local norms laws and customs.
Today all is upside down.''
Wow! This is a honest, straightforward, clear cut statement I can agree to. Wouldn't have thought though, that could ever happen! Cheers. LOL
:)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.