Lindau Agreement

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The Lindau Agreement , the Lindau Agreement and the Lindau Agreement are names for an agreement concluded on November 14, 1957 between the Federal Republic of Germany (Federation) and the federal states . This regulates the participation of the federal states in the conclusion of international treaties .

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The Lindau Agreement regulates cases in which the legislative powers of the federal states according to Art. 30 , Art. 70 , Art. 72 and Art. 74 Basic Law (GG) could be affected by an international treaty of the federal government . It stipulates that, with the consent of the federal states, the federal government will be given comprehensive authority to conclude an international treaty.

By confirming the conclusion of the contract, the implementation of international law is simplified. A breach of contract due to the failure of domestic implementation is thus prevented, since after the approval of the state a further implementation norm in state law within the meaning of Art. 30 GG is no longer necessary.

Legal nature

It is disputed to what extent the federal states should have the authority to conclude international agreements. This dispute gains legal relevance when it comes to the implementation of international treaties within Germany . Although the federal government can conclude contracts for the whole of Germany, implementation is the responsibility of the federal states in accordance with Article 30 of the Basic Law, unless otherwise provided. If a federal state refuses to implement it, this can lead to a breach of contract and sanctions under international law that affect the entire state. However, the federal government is obliged to obtain the approval of the states before concluding the contract. This ensures the implementation of the treaty by the federal states.

There are different views on the legal nature of the Lindau Agreement. On the one hand, it is argued that it is itself an international agreement between the federal government and its states. However, this view is not tenable, because the Lindau Agreement modifies Art. 32 GG, and Art. 79 GG stipulates that there can be no constitutional law outside of the Basic Law. In addition, the rights and obligations of the Basic Law are not available (so-called third-level ban ). In other words, the federal and state governments do not have the power to redistribute the tasks assigned to them by means of treaties, to renounce them or to modify them.

According to another opinion, the Lindau Agreement is simply unconstitutional . If one understands Art. 32 III GG in such a way that with the exclusive legislative competence of the states only they are allowed to conclude contracts with foreign states and other subjects of international law , the Lindau Agreement would in fact violate this provision, since in these cases too it largely transfers the concluding competence to the federal government . It would be unconstitutional because of the third level ban just mentioned.

This so-called federal theory , however, is a minority opinion . The prevailing view , called centralist theory , understands Art. 32 III GG in the sense that the states such as the federal government with foreign countries etc. a. State treaties are allowed to conclude, provided that they have domestic legislative competence with regard to the subject matter of the contract, but the federal government's competence to conclude contracts is retained. Understood in this sense, the Lindau Agreement only stipulates clarifying what results from the Basic Law itself. This means that the Lindau Agreement can be “saved” as a declaratory gentlemen's agreement without any legally binding force .

See also

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Opinion of the Federal Council on the draft law on the Agreement of May 2, 1992 on the European Economic Area (EEA Agreement)  - Federal Council printed paper 368/92 (decision) of July 10, 1992 ( online as p. 438 of this PDF file , 18 , 2 MiB).
  2. ↑ Cf. on everything Maunz / Dürig, Basic Law, Commentary on Art. 32 GG , loose leaf.