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So much for the claims that the Primacy of European Law is a central principal of the EU.

The FCO Tackling myths about the European Constitutional Treaty

Primacy of European Lawis not new. It was already well established as a central principle of the single market well before the UK joined the EEC in 1973 and has been reflected in UK law ever since.

No international organisation could function if domestic law undermined treaties. Whether it’s the WTO, the UN, NATO or the EU, no international organisation could function if its members used national laws to get around international commitments. Once made, agreements with other nations must be kept in good faith and domestic law must respect them.

If the German court is to decide then quite obviously there is no primacy of EU law over state law.

EUobserver.com: “German court to decide on European arrest warrant
18.07.2005 - 09:35 CET | By Honor Mahony

Germany’s highest court is today (18 July) to reach an important decision on the application of the European arrest warrant in the country.

The constitutional court will this morning reach a verdict on whether the warrant will be applied to Mamoun Darkazanli, a German and Syrian national suspected of being involved with the terrorist organisation, al-Qaeda.

The core of the decision concerns whether the arrest warrant is compatible with the German constitution.

In 2003, Spain issued an international arrest warrant against Mr Darkazanli for his alleged terrorist involvement. This was then replaced by the EU arrest warrant following Germany’s implementation of the Brussels legislation.

Mr Darkazanli was arrested in Germany in October last year and a German court then decided the Spanish request was legal.

However, Mr Darkazanli appealed the decision in the federal constitutional court saying his fundamental rights as well as the principles of rule of law and democracy under the German constitution were being impinged - his appeal calls into question the essence of the warrant.

The EU arrest warrant came into force last year, after serious foot-dragging by member states, and allows police to avoid lengthy extradition procedures.

The European Commission has deemed the warrant a success as it has enabled the arrest of several people this year - although only a fraction of those have been related to terrorist activities.”