FRANKFURT (MNI) – Germany’s highest court Wednesday found in favour
of the German government on the matter of whether the country’s
participation in the two rescue packages for Greece breached certain
provisions in the constitution.
However, the court followed up its decision by imposing a number of
restrictions on the government, thereby boosting the ability of
Parliament to scrutinize matters involving EU fiscal transfer.
These new guidelines included the provision that the government
must allow Parliament to take part in the decision-making process when
contemplating matters that could adversely affect the federal budget.
They also require the government to obtain approval of the
parliamentary budget committee before it can grant further aid to other
sovereign states.
The court said the government would be restricted in its ability to
transfer fiscal decisions to other bodies.
The decision, which was broadly as expected, followed a challenge
by a number of senior professors and CSU Party official Peter Gauweiler
against the decisions taken by the Bundestag to support the bailout of
Greece, which they claimed were illegal.
The court said its decision was very tight.
Previous decisions by the court have usually gone in favour of the
Bundestag allowing it greater influence in EU deliberations.
–Frankfurt Bureau +49 69 720 142 email: frankfurt@marketnews.com–
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