Federation and Länder in German foreign relations: Power‐sharing in treaty‐making and European affairs

Abstract

There exists a long tradition, extending back at least as far as Bismarck's Reich, of power‐sharing between federation and states in German foreign relations. This tradition has been maintained in the Federal Republic. The Lander are able to exercise substantial powers in the process of foreign treaty‐making under the terms of Article 32 of the Basic Law, as practised under the 1957 Lindau Agreement. They have also gradually, but particularly since the Single European Act, been able to expand their rights of participation in EC affairs. This contribution examines the legal and constitutional foundations of Lander participation in these two fields of foreign relations and the institutional structures through which that participation is conducted. It concludes with an examination of current deliberations and controversies about constitutional reform in these fields, as stimulated in particular by the Maastricht Treaty on European Union.