Peace made in Germany on European issues. The government coalition made up of Cdu, Csu and Fdp has reached an agreement with the opposition (Spd and Greens) on two fundamental issues to be ratified: the Fiscal Compact and the European Stability Mechanism, the new permanent state-saving fund.
The Bundestag vote is scheduled for June 29 and the qualified majority of two thirds of the lower house is already taken for granted. This was announced by Sigmar Gabriel, group leader of the SPD, underlining how the government has accepted the proposal of the opposition to support, at European level, the introduction of a financial transaction tax (but no redemption fund) and measures to foster growth.
In the meantime, however, the German Constitutional Court has already announced that it will ask the President of the Republic Gauck not to ratify the law authorizing the ratification of the ESM, given the amount of appeals envisaged. The Court, said a spokesman, must be able to deal with it before the fund begins its activity. In a nutshell, the entry into force of the ESM will not be on July 1st.
