Word: bundesrat
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Before the treaties become effective, they must be ratified by the Bundesrat or upper house, and face a court test of their constitutionality. Above all, EDC must be ratified by the other five participating nations-including France...
Chancellor Konrad Adenauer urged the upper house (Bundesrat) of Germany's parliament to hasten the job by considering only those aspects of the treaties that lie within what he said was its proper sphere, i.e., protection of states' rights within the new Federal Republic. A resentful Bundesrat, after a mere 15 minutes' debate, voted unanimously to ignore his appeal, and to debate the entire treaties, paragraph by paragraph. Moreover, it declared, it could not possibly discuss either treaty until the Federal Constitutional Court hands down a decision on the constitutionality of German rearmament-a decision not expected...