Have we just had a vast new shift in the way the European Union is to be run, with we dopey Wimbledon- and Michael Jackson-obsessed Brits utterly missing the story?

Germany’s top Constitutional Court has taken a view on the Lisbon Treaty and come up with some far-reaching conclusions.

Which appear to be that the Treaty can go ahead only if German national laws and institutions in effect are significantly empowered in the process.

Two articles in Spiegel Online are well worth reading.

One gives the views of the German politician who forced the issue before the Court (my emphasis added):

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Part of your challenge to the treaty had to do with whether the European Court of Justice would pair down the rights of the Federal Constitutional Court. What can we expect on that issue now?

Gauweiler: In its decision, the court interpreted Declaration No. 17 of the Lisbon Treaty, which sets forth the decision-making authority of the European Court of Justice, and expressly clarified that when the European Union has legal acts that are at variance with German laws …

SPIEGEL ONLINE: … meaning, when the European Court of Justice makes decisions that overstep its authority …

Gauweiler: … then German citizens have the right to legal protection by the Federal Constitutional court — even against EU regulations. Karlsruhe can rule that EU laws that go too far cannot be applied in Germany. For the citizens of Germany, that is a huge success.

The second says that Euro-skeptics should be delighted by the ruling:

People aren’t talking about a unified Europe anymore. Nowadays, you’re much more likely to hear people talking about a "Europe of the fatherlands." …

Long-standing euro-skeptics like the British will say that, in doing so, Germany has finally made up its mind that Europe is an unruly, undemocratic monster.

Still others will say that this decision reflects the reality that Europe is not a truly united entity and that, as a result, it has put the (what is, in terms of realpolitik, useful) kibosh on the altogether too ambitious fantasies about a future "United States of Europe."

The decision once again anchors Europe’s power a bit more securely in its capital cities. And the only ones who won’t support it are euro-boosters like Cohn-Bendit and Joschka Fischer, who are fervent in their belief that the process of European integration has not kept pace with the thoroughly globalized world.

Whitehall’s top lawyers will be poring over this development with an eye to the next UK election to see what if anything it means for the way British courts might interpret EU norms and their supposed pre-eminence.

But on the face of it, a new Conservative government in London determined to wrest more formal power and expensive decision-taking (not always the same thing) back to national capitals in general and to national parliaments/courts in particular will find a lot in this ruling to enjoy.

And to build on.