The German Constitutional Court has definitively rejected the appeals presented in 2012 against the 700 billion euro ESM (European Stability Mechanism) bailout fund. As has already happened on other occasions in the past with the instruments developed to protect the survival of the euro, however, the judges in Karlsruhe have asked the Berlin government to involve Parliament more directly in decisions concerning the device.
Over ten thousand German citizens, including political parties and associations and individuals, had challenged the European mechanism during the most dramatic phase of the euro crisis, arguing that it damaged the Bundestag's autonomy over the national budget.
A preliminary go-ahead from the Court had already arrived in September 2012, but the judgment "gives the definitive go-ahead", explained the president of the Karlsruhe judges. “Despite the commitments undertaken, the autonomy of the Bundestag in budgetary matters is sufficiently protected”, reads a statement by the Court presided over by Andreas Vosskuhle.
The judges believe that the ESM has not violated the right of the Berlin parliament to decide on budget matters and reiterated that Germany's commitment to the fund must be limited to 190 billion euros, specifying that further appropriations will have to go through the parliamentary approval. Finally, the Court also confirmed the legitimacy of the fiscal compact.
