On 7th September on the initiative of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the Robert Schuman Foundation, some renowned jurists, members of the French State Council and specialists in the European integration process met to debate the German Constitutional Court's decision on the Lisbon Treaty delivered on 30th June 2009.

The decision was the source of various reactions in Germany. After the initial satisfaction associated to the assertion that the Lisbon Treaty was in line with the German Fundamental Law criticism grew in Germany and abroad which suggested that this decision might slow down the ratification process abroad and affect the treaty's implementation. In France the decision had a moderate reception but Germany's critics were even more virulent. Hence "Le Monde" newspaper of 17th July 2009 believed that the decision "buried" the idea of a federal Europe: "On 30th June the German Constitutional Court put an end to the ideal of a European federation: the State will no longer be able to give up its sovereigny without changing the Constitution."

This controversial article in the press on the Karlsruhe decision provided the Kondrad Adenauer Stiftung and the Robert Schuman Foundation with an opportunity to invite Professor Rupert Scholz, a renowned jurist and political leader, chair of the Joint Constitutional Committee of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat (1991-1993) and Anne Levade, a reputed professor of constitutional and community law, who notably was member of the Committee for Reflection on the Modernisation and Re-balancing of the Institutions, which led to the constitutional reform of 2008. The aim of this meeting was to sweep aside any Franco-German misunderstandings and to debate the real consequences of the decision taken by the German Constitutional Court for the continuation of European integration.

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