February 10, 2009: With the Irish government indicating that a new referendum will be held in the fall and opinion polls in Ireland now showing majority support for the Lisbon treaty, the streamlining of EU institutions and its decision making process seemed assured. Until today at least. In an unusual turn of events, the Lisbon treaty now faces a constitutional challenge in European Union's most loyal member: Germany.

Germany is the country one would least expect to mount a challenge to the EU's future. A founding member of the European Economic Community in 1957, Germany has consistently supported further development of the community and the expansion of its role. Of course, with the German economy heavily dependent on exports – one third of Germany's GDP is directly tied to exports – promoting a trade and customs union in Europe also benefits Germany industry.

Germany's constitutional court in Karlsruhe opened proceedings today on the legality of the Lisbon Treaty which has been approved by Germany's parliament, the Bundestag. The parties to the legal challenge are a very unusual combination: Peter Gauweiler, a conservative member of the Bundestag from Bavaria's Christian Socialist Union (CSU) and a group of Bundestag representatives from the new Left party, considered by the CSU to be incapable of accepting governmental responsibility. The legal challenge maintains that too much sovereignty is being transferred from Berlin to Brussels, thereby violating Germany's "Basic Law" of 1949, which is the country's constitution. To document his case, Gauweiler used the example of a German environment minister who was unable to have a certain type of light bulb banned by the Bundestag because of regulations from Brussels.

If past experience is a guide, Germany's constitutional court will likely need two or three months to reach a decision. The "success" of the ratification process for the Lisbon treaty will be undecided during that period. Peter Gauweiler is not the first prominent person in Germany to question the erosion of Germany sovereignty. Two years ago former German President Roman Herzog asked whether Germany could still be called a constitutional democracy in view of the substantial transfer of power to Brussels. The proposed Lisbon treaty issue is also a very important issue for German chancellor Angela Merkel, who negotiated long hours to broker a deal to get the treaty approved by all EU members. Merkel has assigned two senior cabinet ministers – foreign minister and vice-chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier and interior minister Wolfgang Schäuble – to present the federal government's position to the high court.

Even if Germany's court rules in favor of the Lisbon treaty, another constitutional challenge is already on the docket which could further delay the treaty's ratification. The other legal action was filed in January by Franz Ludwig Graf Stauffenberg, son of would-be Hitler assassin Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and a former member of the European Parliament. The Stauffenberg suit is over 200 pages long.

If either constitutional challenge is successful or the repeat Irish referendum fails, the EU reform treaty of Lisbon will be finished. If that happens, it is unlikely that another attempt to get a treaty ratified would be made anytime in the near future. The more likely scenario would be a "core Europe", a vision of a "Democratic Dictatorship" that would fulfill Bible prophecy.