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Additional information and outline of the oral hearing in the “CETA” proceedings
Press Release No. 68/2016 of 29 September 2016
Reference: 2 BvR 1368/16, 2 BvR 1444/16, 2 BvR 1823/16, 2 BvR 1482/16, 2 BvE 3/16
As announced, the Second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court will conduct an oral hearing in the “CETA” proceedings on Wednesday, 12 October 2016 with regard to several applications for a preliminary injunction. The Senate aims to pronounce its judgment on Thursday, 13 October 2016 (cf. Press Release No. 67/2016 of 23 September 2016).
In 2009, the European Union and Canada started their negotiations for an economic and trade agreement. In July 2016, the European Commission proposed to the Council of the European Union the adoption of a decision authorising the signing of the comprehensive economic and trade agreement between Canada on the one hand and the European Union and its Member States on the other hand (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement - CETA) pursuant to Art. 218 sec. 5 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”), and to declare the agreement’s provisional application until the procedures necessary for its conclusion have been completed, and to adopt pursuant to Art. 218 sec. 6 TFEU a decision concluding the agreement. The Council of the European Union intends to adopt the decisions on the signing and on the provisional application at the end of October 2016.
The complainants and the applicant in the Organstreit proceedings (dispute between constitutional organs) challenge the approval by or the abstention of the German representative in the Council of the European Union with regard to the European Commission’s proposed decisions. They challenge, among other things, a violation of the principle of democracy - that is part of the constitutional identity - through an encroachment upon the Member States’ competences, through the investment protection approach set out in the CETA draft, as well as through the intended committee system.