Germany delays ratifying Lisbon Treaty

TEXT OF STORY

STEVE CHIOTAKIS: In Germany today, the Constitutional Court delayed ratification of a treaty
that’s supposed to strengthen the leadership of the European Union. That’s despite the fact that the court said the treaty is compatible with German law. Reporter Brett Neely’s been following this story on the so-called Lisbon Treaty and he joins us now from Berlin. Good morning Brett.

BRETT NEELY: Morning Steve.

CHIOTAKIS: OK. So if it’s constitutional, why did Germany hold off on ratification?

NEELY: Well the court said that it was worried that the treaty as it’s currently written isn’t going to give Germany’s parliament enough say in decisions that might affect Germany. So now parliament’s going to have to go back and basically rewrite its rules a little bit for how it interact with the European Union.

CHIOTAKIS: So why is this treaty such a big deal for Europe?

NEELY: Well the thing you have to think about with the EU is you have to think you know 15 years ago the EU had about half the members that is has today — 15. And all of the rule-making processes were set up for a much smaller European Union. Now that the European Union has 27 members, it’s really, really hard to come up with decisions on tough issues. And that’s really been shown in the financial crisis. There’s a lot of reform that needs to happen, for example, to the banking sector and the financial sector that just is stalled right now because of the processes that are in place.

CHIOTAKIS: All right, reporter Brett Neely joining us from Berlin. Thanks Brett.

NEELY: Thank you Steve.