PRESS RELEASE
Disastrous Ruling by
German Supreme Court
Sept. 7, 2011 (EIRNS)—On paper at least, the Constitutional Court of Germany today stated that future bailouts need approval of the Bundestag's budget committee, but it otherwise okayed the bailouts that have been done so far. And it threw out the two legal challenges by the "five anti-euro professors" (Hankel, Noelling, Schachtschneider, Starbatty, and Spethmann) and by Bundestag member Peter Gauweiler (CSU) on grounds that the plaintiffs had not provided hard evidence on their charges that basic constitutional rights have been violated by the bailout policy.
Worse even: The court's ruling stated that all of the already taken bailout measures have been in line with the constitution and with the EU (Lisbon Treaty) laws; that the parliament's genuine rights have not been undermined; that "even in case of a full realization of the guaranteed risks, the losses can still be refinanced through tax increases, budget cuts and longer-term state bonds." The €170 billion that Germany has already guaranteed in the Greek and other bailout operations, are no threat to the financial and budgetary stability of Germany, even if they already amount to €170 billion, which is half the size of the fiscal year budget.
The budget autonomy and fiscal sovereignty of Germany have not been affected, the Court claimed, interfering in those very rights itself, by scandalously arguing in favor of the government's (and the ECB's) view that everything is under control; no reason to worry now; that no permanent bailout is on the agenda; that the expanded EFSF is just of a "temporary" nature, and will expire by mid-2013. And as far as the budget committee's role is concerned, the Court added that in cases in which the government has to bail out on the spot, the government will tell the committee (not the parliament, just the committee) about it instantly. Which is what has occurred so far, without having any really negative consequences for the government. That does not mean, naturally, that any future revolt of the committee can be ruled out, but to date, there has not been any revolt worth mentioning.
"For the moment, there is no reason to assess an irreversible process with consequences for the budgeting autonomy of the German Bundestag," the Court rules. Quite a disaster, but in line with the insanity of the financial actors of the Empire, which this ruling will not rescue.
