Unequal but democratic? Equality according to Karlsruhe

Abstract

In its Lisbon ruling, the German Constitutional Court claims that the ‘formation of a government with the powers of a state’ from within the European Parliament would require its seats to be apportioned in a strict relationship to the share of each member state in the population of the Union. In reaching this conclusion, the Court distinguishes between the equal representation of whole democratic peoples and the equal representation of individual citizens. However, we question that the composition of a European Parliament with powers of ‘government formation’ would need to give strict priority to the equal representation of persons, rather than continue to give some weight to both equalities. The Court's concern that a European Government should not be elected by those who represent a minority of the population could also be met if the Parliament's choice had to be confirmed by a qualified majority of the European Council.

Keywords:

• Democracy
• equality
• German Constitutional Court
• Lisbon Treaty
• representation

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank Sandra Kröger, Dawid Friedrich, Richard Bellamy, Michelle Everson, Samuel Schubert, Pieter de Wilde and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on the various drafts.

Notes

For the English language version of the ruling, see http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/entscheidungen/es20090630_2bve000208en.html (accessed 23 June 2012).