Legal Basis
European Policy
Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein participate among the German states in matters concerning the European Union, both at national and directly at European level.
At the national level, the states are active through the Bundesrat and the conferences of specialist ministers, including the Conference of European Affairs Ministers.
According to Article 23 of the Basic Law, the states are involved in matters concerning the European Union via the Bundesrat (http://www.bundesrat.de). The procedure is regulated in detail in the Act on the Exercise of the Integration Responsibility of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat in Matters Concerning the European Union (Integration Responsibility Act) and in the Act on Cooperation between the Federal Government and the States in Matters Concerning the European Union (EUZBLG), as well as the accompanying Federal-State Agreement.
In the Committee for European Union Affairs of the Bundesrat, EU projects (in particular legislative proposals, communications, and Green and White Papers from the Commission) are primarily discussed. Following consultations by the involved specialist committees, the committee examines the proposal and the specialist committee recommendations from a European legal and political perspective, which also includes safeguarding the principle of subsidiarity and the principle of proportionality. The committee has the option to merely take note of a proposal or to recommend a statement. In the latter case, the question always arises whether the Bundesrat’s statement must be given significant consideration by the Federal Government. The conditions for significant consideration are detailed in Article 23 of the Basic Law and § 5 paragraph 2 of the EUZBLG. An important application arises when the EU project primarily affects legislative powers of the states (e.g., in the area of general education).
In addition to the Committee for European Union Affairs, there is also a European Chamber established on the basis of Article 52 paragraph 3a of the Basic Law. The European Chamber is used whenever matters that require confidential treatment or a quick response from the Bundesrat need to be discussed. The decisions of the European Chamber have the same legal effect as decisions of the Bundesrat plenary, meaning their decisions are considered decisions of the Bundesrat.
Through the Bundesrat, the states now also participate in the so-called Subsidiarity Early Warning System, which was introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon, effective December 1, 2009. According to this system, national parliaments – in Germany, the Bundestag and Bundesrat – can already object to violations of the subsidiarity principle at the beginning of EU legislative procedures. The state parliaments, for their part, will participate in the subsidiarity control.
Beyond the Bundesrat, the states coordinate their European policy interests particularly in the Conference of European Affairs Ministers of the States (EMK) (http://www.europaminister.de). The European policy positions agreed upon in this specialist ministerial conference are represented to the Federal Government and the European Commission. The chairmanship is held for one year by each state in alphabetical order. The other specialist ministerial conferences also regularly take positions on European policy issues.
There are also various forms of state participation at the level of the European Union. Participation takes place, for example, through the secondment of Bundesrat representatives to EU bodies, particularly Council working groups and Commission committees. Furthermore, the state observer, who is sent to the meetings of the specialist ministerial councils, regularly informs the states about the status of negotiations and simultaneously provides them with the consultation and decision documents. The state observer is an institution of all 16 federal states, whose activities are based on an agreement from 1996.
Finally, the states can second so-called national experts to the Commission and participate in comprehensive short- and long-term expert programs of the Commission.
Direct representation of state interests also occurs, of course, through state representations in Brussels, the members of the European Parliament (http://www.europarl.europa.eu), and the members of the Committee of the Regions (http://www.cor.europa.eu).
Link to: WIR IN EUROPA H-O
HANSE-OFFICE
Link to: Berührungspunkte EU – Hamburg
POINTS OF CONTACT EU – HAMBURG
POINTS OF CONTACT EU – SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
Link to: Rechtliche Grundlage
LEGAL BASIS
Link to: Mitglieder AdR