Coalition and spd: karlsruhe will approve esm

With a view to the decision expected on wednesday from karlsruhe, finance minister wolfgang schauble (CDU) told "bild am sonntag": "so far, the federal constitutional court has never judged the course of european integration to be against the constitution."

CSU politician peter gauweiler filed a new emergency motion in karlsruhe a few days before the decision was made. The decision by the european central bank (ECB) to help ailing states with additional purchases of government bonds in the event of a request for help from the euro bailout fund has fundamentally changed the assessment of the bailout measures, argues gauweiler.

Meanwhile, neither spain nor italy have submitted requests to allow additional bond purchases. In this case, the countries had to submit in whole or in part to the strict rules of the ESM. Madrid is seen as the first candidate for a request for help. But financial experts in spain are confident that the ECB decision alone will cause interest rates on spanish bonds to fall further on the capital market. This reduces the need to submit a request for assistance to the euro rescue fund.

CDU/CSU faction leader volker kauder fears that the ECB’s independence has been damaged by the purchase program. At the same time, kauder insisted in the "bild" newspaper (monday) on the right of the bundestag to have a say in the allocation of aid.

The parliamentary manager of the SPD parliamentary group, thomas oppermann, told the "tagesspiegel am sonntag" that the karlsruhe court had so far always emphasized the idea of democratic legitimacy. Similarly, EU parliament president martin schulz (SPD) told the "rheinische post" (saturday) that karlsruhe was basically concerned with keeping the risks for the german taxpayer compatible with the constitution. Fiscal pact introduces debt brake at european level. With this he fulfills a central demand of the court.

On wednesday, the supreme court in karlsruhe will announce its decision on several emergency petitions against the bailout fund. Immediately afterwards, chancellor angela merkel (CDU) can react to the judge’s ruling on the ESM and fiscal pact in a government statement in the bundestag in berlin. On the same day, the EU commission will present its plans for a european banking supervisory authority. And in the netherlands – one of berlin’s few allies in the euro crisis – a new government is being elected.

CSU politician gauweiler argued that the ECB’s decision would lead to the central bank buying bonds instead of the bailout fund. "The parliaments are not being consulted, although ultimately the national budgets are also being burdened with the risks," he says in the letter, which was made available to the dpa news agency. Both the limitation of liability provided for in the ESM treaty and parliamentary control were thus undermined.

FDP finance politician hermann otto solms warned karlsruhe in "welt am sonntag": "if the ESM was prevented, there would be a great danger that the ECB would buy bonds in the long term."Vice-chairman of the unions’ parliamentary group michael meister said: "if the court rules that the ESM is unconstitutional, there is a threat of turbulence on the financial markets."However, an enforced halt to the ESM would also be acceptable, because its predecessor, the EFSF, still has 100 to 200 billion euros in reserve.

When asked if he could promise the burghers that the euro would survive the crisis, schauble said: "yes, I can. The euro remains a trustworthy currency, even though I fear that the uncertainty will continue for some time to come."At the same time, schauble warned the european crisis states in the "bild am sonntag" newspaper to ease up on reforms following the ECB’s decision to buy more government bonds.