óRDAGO DEL TRIBUNAL CONSTITUCIONAL ALEMáN AL PROCESO DE INTEGRACIóN EUROPEA (ALGO MáS QUE UNA SENTENCIA CRíTICA CON EL TRATADO DE LISBOA)

This article analyses the relationships between EU Law and internal constitutional organisation in the light of the jurisprudence of the GermanConstitutional Court, and in particular the ruling of 30 June 2009. This ruling allowed ratification by Germany of the Treaty of Lisbon, but marked out the limited of European integration from the German constitutional perspective much more strictly than it had in its previous declaration in 1993 on theMaastricht Treaty. Using arguments basically founded on the concept of sovereignty and the democratic principle of article 38 of the Fundamental Law of Bonn, the German Constitutional Court also reserves the option ofexercising future control of the acts of the Union that are susceptible to violate the express attribution of power (ultra vires control) without the need to present a previous prejudicial question before the European Court of Justice. Although this option did not materialise the first time the German Constitutional Court had the opportunity to make judgement on a specific case (the Honeywell affair), the ruling had led to major questions regarding the necessary judicial dialogue between the German Constitutional Court and the European Court of Justice, as well as the possibilities for the future developmentof the Union.