So is EU democracy nothing but a shiny bauble? Criticism of the German court's ruling has grown with each day that passes since the decision was handed down. Prominent European intellectuals have vocally expressed their outrage at the court's reservations about further steps toward European integration. Former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer described the ruling as "outrageous" in an opinion piece for the respected German weekly Die Zeit. "The decision comes at a time at which our European neighbors and the Americans are increasingly gaining the impression that Germany is more and more turning away from Europe and is mainly interested in its own affairs," he wrote. "The Constitutional Court's decision strengthens this impression."
But this outrage conceals the fact that the ruling of the Karlsruhe-based Constitutional Court also represents the most important contribution yet to the future of democracy in the post-democratic era. The Karlsruhe judges are treating the European project the way it has long been seen by political scientists, as well as international law and globalization experts around the world, namely as the world's most exciting attempt to solve supranational problems with the help of supranational politics -- and to do so in a democratic fashion.
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