Possible Setback for Bailout Plans: German Constitutional Court Halts Special Euro Panel
October 31st, 2011Published on Spiegel Online International, October 28, 2011.
Germany’s highest court has issued a temporary injunction banning the work of a new panel convened by the country’s parliament to quickly green-light decisions on disbursement of taxpayer funds through the euro bailout program. The decision could lead to further delays in German decision-making in efforts to rescue the beleaguered common currency.
Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court on Friday expressed doubts about the legality of a new panel of lawmakers set up by the German parliament to reach quick decisions on the release of funds from the euro bailout mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility EFSF. The court issued a temporary injunction banning the nine-person committee in the Bundestag from taking any decisions on the EFSF’s deployment of German taxpayer money.
The special committee was recently created in order to be able to provide a quick green light for EFSF aid in especially urgent situations in which it wouldn’t be feasible to put the issue up for a vote before the full parliament. The decision from the court, located in Karlsruhe, could also slow down Bundestag approval of the further application of German credit guarantees within the scope of the euro backstop fund … //
… On Wednesday, the Bundestag tasked the committee – whose meetings are closed to the public and confidential – with a supervisory role for the billions of euros in German taxpayer money that are being deployed by the EFSF. It includes members of all of the German political parties represented in parliament and includes an equal number of politicians representing the parties in government and those in the opposition. (full text).
Links:
SPD;
The Good Bankers: Battling the Financial Lobby in Brussels, October 24, 2011;
Regaining Citizenship: Jewish-American Families Reclaim German Roots, Okto ber 28, 2011.