Zur Erosion der Autorität des Lissabon-Urteils des Bundesverfassungsgerichts The Erosion of the German Lisbon Judgment’s Authority

Abstract

This paper revisits the German Constitutional Court’s Lisbon judgment (2009) and its restrictive stance towards European integration. It argues that the judgment’s reasoning was problematic from the outset and has become increasingly untenable in view of today’s geopolitical and domestic challenges. In light of these subsequent political and legal developments the judgment’s authority has significantly eroded. In practice, German policy has already moved beyond the rigid constraints suggested by the Lisbon Court, with major integration steps advancing into areas the judgment had sought to block. The article therefore calls for a recalibration of the Court’s restrictive jurisprudence, building on the more integration-friendly line developed by its First Senate, and thus situating German constitutional law more constructively within the European constitutional order.