 (EU member) In February 1989, the state of Schleswig-Holstein approved local voting rights for Danish, Irish, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, and Swiss 5-year residents; the state of Hamburg approved local voting for 8-year residents.Both were struck down as unconstitutional by the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany on October 31, 1990 (Ruling 83, 37), which interpreted article 28 of the Basic Law to mean only German citizen residents in the territory of that administrative unit, when it stated that "the people" must be represented by election in districts and municipalities.Between 1995 and 1999, all states were compelled to change their legislation in order to comply with the December 19, 1994 94/80/CE EU directive regarding voting and eligibility rights for EU residents in local and district elections.