 Germany ratified the Lisbon Treaty in September 2009 after having placed on hold some fifteen months earlier.Both houses of the bicameral German parliament approved of the Treaty of Lisbon 24 April and 23 May 2008, and the German President had signed the ratification bill into law some months later.However, ratification required another signature of the President in the formal instrument of ratification, which was withheld pending a ruling from the Constitutional Court on the treaty's compatibility with Germany's constitution.