Referendum on Europe Gains Support in Germany

The following is an excerpt from an article in 

The New York Times
Sunday, August 19, 2012

Referendum on Europe Gains Support in Germany

By MELISSA EDDY BERLIN — It has become the buzzword of the summer in Berlin: referendum. The foreign and finance ministers as well as opposition leaders have all come out in favor of allowing Germans to have a direct say in whether to give up more power to European Union institutions.

Although the idea of a referendum is for the moment more notional than concrete, it is gaining currency in Germany’s political debate. Approving it would amount to the exceptional step of a national vote to change the Constitution to allow Germans to relinquish some executive authority to Brussels.

Proponents say that if such a referendum were approved, it would send a strong signal of Germany’s commitment to the euro. It would also streamline the steps needed to save the common European currency, they argue, and appease mounting complaints by Germans that even as they are being asked to pay more to bolster or bail out their troubled euro zone partners, they have no say in where their taxes are flowing or how they are being spent.

Such a referendum comes with the built-in risk that Germans could vote against Europe, with potentially damning consequences for the common currency and the future of the European Union.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has consistently promoted a vision of “more Europe” as the answer to the euro crisis, meaning tighter integration but also stricter oversight of European fiscal policy. Currently, steps in that direction have ended up in Germany’s highest court, facing legal challenges from opponents who say that handing over more money and authority to the European Union violates the country’s Constitution.

On Sept. 12, the high court is poised to rule on the constitutionality of the fiscal pact arduously negotiated among European Union members that is the cornerstone of Ms. Merkel’s plans. It will also rule on the legality of Germany’s $27 billion commitment to back up a permanent bailout fund for the union.

Should the challenge prevail, and German support be withdrawn, it would almost certainly doom the project of greater integration and send a potentially calamitous signal to financial markets looking for urgent steps to buttress troubled euro zone economies. Both measures passed the German Parliament by a clear two-thirds majority on June 29, but they were immediately challenged in court by dissenting lawmakers, delaying them from taking effect as envisioned on July 1.

Proponents of a referendum argue that changing the Constitution would avoid such delays, and the frustrations that accompany them.

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