ESM Treaty in accordance with the Austrian constitution

The Constitutional Court dismissed the applications against the ESM Treaty and the interpretative declaration thereto as unfounded. While the Court found that both the ESM Treaty and the interpretative declaration could be challenged separately under Art 140a Federal Constitutional Law, the contentions against the ESM Treaty were found to concern primarily policy arguments which the Court was not competent to decide on. Moreover, the Court held that the ESM Treaty contained no unlimited additional funding commitment and that the limits of Art 9 para 2 Federal Constitutional Law regarding the transfer of specific Federal competences to the ESM and EU institutions were respected. Also the new constitutional participation and information rights were found to be compatible with the ESM Treaty. Since the interpretative declaration did not modify the ESM Treaty, it did not need an approval by the National Council according to Art 50 Federal Constitutional Law.