Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo

Sommario

1. Introduzione. – 2. L’Europaartikel e la sua applicazione al momento della riforma costituzionale. – 3. I lavori della Commissione per la modernizzazione. – 4. La nuova formulazione dell’art. 23 e le altre modifiche rilevanti in materia di integrazione europea.

Abstract

The constitutional reform of 2006 did not introduce a radical change in the role played by the Länder in the European Union. Notwithstanding that one of the early intentions of the reform was to diminish the role played by the Bundesrat in the federal lawmaking process, art. 23 of the German Constitution, that regulates the participation of the Bundesrat in the bottom-up phase of the EU legislative process, has not been significantly amended. In fact, only par 6 of art. 23 has been changed in order to allow Länder representatives, appointed by the Bundesrat, to take part to meetings of the Council of the European Union. The author examines the Bund-Länder relationship as far as the European integration process is concerned, taking into account the implementation of the federal system before the constitutional reform was approved as well as the opinions expressed by the Bicameral Committee on Constitutional Reform set up in 2003.