Green light to ratification of the state-saving fund (MES) by the Constitutional Court of Germany. The judges of Karlsruhe have in fact rejected the appeal of seven liberal deputies against a law that allows the reorganization of the Mes. There are therefore no more obstacles and the President of the Republic will now be able to sign the law. This news was welcomed with joy by almost all of the European Union. Almost, why the exception is Italy which at this point remains the only country in the Eurozone that has not yet ratified the reform.
The decision of the German Constitutional Court
Six German liberal deputies had presented appeal to the Constitutional Court against the approval of the Agreement of January 27, 2021 amending the Treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism, the State-saving Fund. According to them, in fact, the provision is detrimental to democratic self-determination and transfers excessive powers to the fund created during the great financial crisis. According to the judges of Karlsruhe, however, the applicants would not have explained exhaustively where their rights would be affected. The Court explained that “the constitutional censure is inadmissible, as the applicants have not sufficiently demonstrated and substantiated the possibility that such acts violate their right to democratic self-determination. They have failed to demonstrate that one of the amending agreements could lead to a transfer of sovereign powers to the ESM or the European Union or that a (de facto) change to the framework of the EU integration agenda could violate their rights. . For this reason the appeal was rejected.
The decision of the Constitutional Court paves the way for the ratification by Germany of the reform of the Mes treaty and, according to forecasts, the President of the Republic will soon sign the law.
Italy is the only one that has not yet ratified the reform
With the German yes, Italy remains to all intents and purposes the only state in the Eurozone a have not yet ratified the new treaty. The two Conte governments had always expressed their opposition to the Salva-Stati fund, considering it a vexatious tool. The previous Mario Draghi government had instead undertaken to ratify the new treaty.
Recently, the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti, which is in favor of the Mes, reiterated Italy's commitment, stating however that it wanted to wait for the German verdict before proceeding. In theory, therefore, now Italy should also agree, but in the previous legislature FdI and Lega they had spoken out against the reform. The Undersecretary for the Economy of Fratelli d'Italia, Lucia Albano, in fact stated that "the conditions of the fund are excessively stringent".
