BERLIN (MNI) – The German government’s cabinet on Wednesday
approved the country’s share of the financing for the E500 billion
European Stabilisation Mechanism, the Eurozone’s permanent rescue fund.
Germany will contribute some E21.7 billion of paid-in capital and
some E168.3 billion of callable capital.
The paid-in capital was initially to be funded in five annual
steps. But Eurozone leaders recently agreed to pay two of the annual
tranches in 2012. Germany will, thus, pay some E8.7 billion to the ESM
this year. It will adopt a supplementary budget for this purpose.
The bill notes that the total E500 billion volume of the ESM could
still be revised after deliberations on the European level. Eurozone
leaders are scheduled to discuss later this month the possibility of
raising the upper limit of the ESM. Germany has made clear on several
occasions that it opposes an increase of the ESM.
The rights of the German parliament regarding future ESM decisions
will still be worked out during the parliamentary deliberations on the
bill.
The German Constitutional Court recently strengthened the rights of
parliamentarians over Eurozone bailout decisions. The Court ruled last
month that a nine-member parliamentary committee set up to approve
urgent action by Europe’s current bailout fund, the European Financial
Stability Facility (EFSF), was in large part unconstitutional and that a
larger number of parliamentarians must have a say in these matters.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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