Improvement of German constitutional legislation about the competence delimitation of the Federation and lands

The purpose of the constitutional reform of German federalism was the development of the order of delineation of legislative competences between the Federation and the lands and the decrease of the number of cases in which the approval of the Bundesrat was necessary. The law on amending the Basic law of FRG which is known in Germany as the Law on the reform of federalism came into force 01.09.2006. The legislation on delineation of competences between the Federation and the lands was amended. Framework legislation of the Federation was repealed and its place was taken by exclusive and competing legislation of the Federation or by legislation of the lands. In 2006 Article 72 of the Basic law of FRG was added by a new provision, according to which the lands of FRG acquired the right to adopt the laws which on some positions were inconsistent with federal laws. Now the lands of FRG have "the right to reject". The lands have a six months term to react to new federal laws with a renewed rejection. There are also great changes in the sphere of federal laws execution in Germany. According to Article 83 of the Basic law of FRG, the execution of federal laws is vested in the lands since the Basic law neither defines nor admits any alternatives. Thus, the competence of the lands prevails in the sphere of execution of federal laws. The Bundesrat plays a prominent role in the system of the higher bodies of state power in the sphere of cooperation of Germany with European Union institutions. Being the members of the Bundesrat, the lands of FRG are involved in the formation of the will of the Federation because in this way they "take part in a law making process and government of the Federation" (Article 50 of the Basic law).The above norm of the Basic law of FRG was added by the Law dated 12.12.1992 according to which "through the Bundesrat the lands participate... in the European Union affairs". Germany pays special attention to the norms of the constitutional legislation which regulate the issues of its financial relationship with the European Union. The law dated 28.08.2006 made some amendments to these norms of the Basic law of FRG. The constitutional reform of federalism in modern Germany has played an important role in the development of the system of federative relations in the state. The result of large-scale changes in the functioning of the German federative system taken as a whole is that the principle of competitiveness (rivalry) between the lands supported the "cooperative" German federalism.

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