FinChannel.com
16/07/2012 05:41
The FINANCIAL -- Germany's top court said Monday it would rule on September 12 on legal challenges to euro crisis-fighting tools, as financial markets nervously await a decision.
The Federal Constitutional Court said it would hand down a judgement on complaints aimed at preventing President Joachim Gauck from signing legislation passed last month by both houses of parliament.
The draft laws concern Europe's fiscal pact for greater budgetary discipline and its 500-billion-euro ($611-billion) permanent bailout fund to aid debt-mired eurozone countries.
The rescue shield cannot come into force without the ratification of Europe's top economic power and already jittery markets are nervous at the prospect of a lengthy legal battle.
According to EUbusiness, while parliament approved the measures, Gauck has delayed signing them into law while the court considers a raft of legal challenges.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble pressed the court last week to rule quickly on the complaints.
"We have asked the court to decide as quickly as possible because we are in an extraordinarily critical situation. The risk of contagion to the whole eurozone is very high," Schaeuble told German radio.
However Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted on the court's independence in a television interview on Sunday.
Source: FInChannel.com
