Duitsland neemt stappen voor grondwetswijziging die referenda mogelijk maakt (en)

Germany is one step further on its path to legalising referendums in the country after the ruling Social Democrats and Greens agreed on a possible text for the new law.

According to German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, experts from both parties have agreed a draft text for a new law which would eventually allow a referendum in Germany.

This could ultimately enable German citizens to give their opinion on the European Constitution - along with citizens in several other countries including France and the UK.

If the new German law is approved, a basic tenet of Germany's 55-year-old constitution will have been broken, as the text, drawn up after the second world war, purposely excluded referendums which were abused in the run up to Nazism.

The law has to be approved by a two thirds majority in both houses of parliament.

Current thinking in the two parties says that referendums should only be used for international treaties that need to be ratified.

The Turkey debate

However, FAZ reports that because of the debate surrounding Turkey's eventual membership of the EU, it is being considered whether to reduce the scope for having referendums even further.

This would mean only asking German citizens for their opinion when elements of the country's sovereignty are affected.

However, getting the law passed could be difficult as the main opposition parties are very split on the issue.

While the Bavaria -based Christian Social Union is broadly supportive, the larger Christian Democrat party has expressed much stronger reservations.