Süddeutsche Zeitung - Germany | Thursday, September 8, 2011
Constitution doesn't allow for more Europe
Germany constitutional judges in Karlsruhe have squeezed every last drop of pro-European sentiment from the German constitution, writes the left-liberal daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, comparing the Basic Law with a well: "This well has been drawn from copiously and for many years in the effort to build the house of Europe. The Federal Constitutional Court's ruling approving the package for Greece and the euro bailout fund uses up the last drops it had to offer. One can actually sense how much of an effort the judges made: the well's machinery is creaking ominously and the bucket is scratching the bottom. After this last effort and creative act the court's president Andreas Voßkuhle has basically put the empty bucket on his head. The court has done all it can do as a constitutional body. It acted in as pro-European a way as it could on the basis of the constitution. Those who want more Europe now will have to write more Europe into the constitution. New wells must be dug, a new source must be exploited. ... The European possibilities the old constitution offered have all been used up."
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