FRANKFURT (MNI) – Germany’s lower house of parliament, the
Bundestag, will not give a blank check to the European Financial
Stability Facility (EFSF), Bundestag president Norbert Lammert told
German daily Handelsblatt on Wednesday.

“Whatever the confidential paper may say, there will be no complete
transfer of authority,” Lammert told the newspaper.

His comment was in reaction to an earlier report from Handelsblatt
citing a confidential document signed by German Finance Minister
Wolfgang Schaeuble that proposes limiting parliamentary control over the
EFSF.

On July 21, Eurozone leaders decided to grant the fund new powers
including the right to recapitalize banks, buy bonds of member states in
the secondary market, and offer credit lines pre-emptively to countries
not under a bailout plan.

Schaeuble’s document suggests that the EFSF’s board should be able
to draw up its own guidelines regarding pricing, political conditions,
conditions of use and documentation, the Handelsblatt reported.

–Frankfurt bureau tel.: +49-69-720142. Email: jtreeck@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: MT$$$$,MGX$$$,M$$EC$,M$G$$$,M$X$$$]