Germany: Greece bailout on trial

Germany's Supreme Court is preparing to hear a legal charge over the euro zone bailouts, but the finance minister says he is confident the aid has not violated German or European law.

As Brussels struggles to deal with the Greek debt crisis, a new front is opening in Germany. The main exponents of the German judicial system are trying the bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, carried out in the last year, to verify their adherence to the constitutional laws of both Germany and the European Union.
The Constitutional Court of Karlsruhe today begins to consider a process based on 15 complaints presented by various academics and politicians of the country (originally there were about 50 complaints, but it was decided to take into consideration only a few). The plaintiffs mainly argue that the payment of the packages for Greece, Ireland and Portugal made in the last year violate the Union's non-bailout clause, according to which neither the EU nor any other member can shoulder the responsibilities of individual governments. Part of this group is Peter Guaweiler, a member of parliament of the CSU, the Bavarian branch of the CDU, the majority party of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Another plaintiff, law professor Karl-Albrecht Schachtschneider, said the euro has failed and that he hopes the court will reject a system “which will lead not only to economic disaster but also to political instability in Germany and all of Europe".
“In Karlsruhe there will be no discussion of the future of Europe nor of the goodness or badness of the economic strategy adopted to overcome the Greek debt crisis”, declared the presiding judge Andreas Vosskuhle. “It is the task of politicians not of judges. But the Federal Constitutional Court must consider the limits imposed by the constitution on the realm of politics,” he added.
According to legal experts, it is unlikely that the court will block the German government's participation in all the bailouts or force the government to renege on its commitments. But many expect more restrictive conditions to be imposed on future aid.
As a sign that the German government has taken the process seriously, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is present at the session, which started at 8 this morning. Before the hearing, Shaeuble said the government's decision to commit bailout funds "was necessary and just" and a tool to safeguard the euro. "We are not only defending European unity, the market and the common currency, but the welfare and social security of the people who are part of it," he added. He also stated that he "couldn't see any way how Germany could have violated the constitution."
Together with the International Monetary Fund, the EU has approved bailout packages to Greece, Ireland and Portugal since last year, totaling 273 billion euros.
It is not known how long it will take for the Court to reach a decision.

Euobserver.com