Germany's Top Court May Attach Strings to Euro Bailout

Spiegel
June 13, 2011

Germany's top court will soon hear a complaint filed against the Greek bailout and euro rescue fund. A recent remark by the court's president suggests it may attach strings to its approval of the bailouts -- and thereby reinforce the country's reputation for obstructionism in the fight to save the euro.

The judges of the German Federal Constitutional Court are not known for giving hints about future rulings in panel discussions. But at the annual meeting of the German Bar Association in Strasbourg, France, on June 3, the court's president, Andreas Vosskuhle, made a casual and yet carefully worded statement that led to precisely such conclusions.

When asked whether there were instances in which the European Union could violate the core of Germany's constitutional identity, Vosskuhle said that there were, and that such "sensitive constellation" were indeed conceivable -- only to add, after a brief pause, that he believed that this would "not necessarily happen in the near future."

This statement would have gone unnoticed, had it been a casual remark by a university professor. But because Vosskuhle, as president of the Constitutional Court, has insider information, the statement allows conclusions to be made about pending cases. German news agency dpa promptly reported that this acknowledgment could have something to do with "the decision about the euro bailout fund."

At the moment, no issue is being followed more closely in Karlsruhe, where the court is located, than the question of when -- and how -- the Constitutional Court will decide on the complaints, pending for almost a year, against the first bailout package for Greece and the subsequently established, three-year bailout fund to stabilize the euro. If the court finds in favor of the plaintiffs, it will have grave consequences for the permanent European Stability Mechanism (ESM) now being planned, and, as a result, for the continued existence of Europe's monetary union.

Karlsruhe has now scheduled a hearing for July 5 to address the constitutional complaints brought by Peter Gauweiler, a member of parliament for the Christian Social Union (CSU) party, and a group of experts headed by Nuremberg constitutional law professor Karl Albrecht Schachtschneider. Clearly the court intends, at least, to critically examine the euro stabilization measures. A previous complaint by Gauweiler, against the EU Treaty of Lisbon, was largely successful.

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