For some time now, the path out of the euro crisis has been a clear one for Angela Merkel. Of course, the German chancellor believes that her policies are the right way out. When the German Federal Constitutional Court approved the ratification of the treaty implementing the permanent euro bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), with a few conditions, the chancellor once again felt affirmed.
The question arises because the ruling is a preliminary one, and the court's final decision could still hold a few surprises for European leaders. The ESM can now be ratified, but some aspects remain unclear and may not be clarified until the court rules in the main proceedings in the cases against the ESM ratification and the European Central Bank's plans to purchase unlimited government bonds from crisis-plagued eurozone countries. The justices in Karlsruhe have left plenty of wiggle room in the language used in the preliminary ruling for a final decision later.
As with many court rulings, this time around all parties are claiming victory, even though the Constitutional Court denied the petition for a temporary injunction against the ESM's ratification. Merkel and her Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, both of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, are hoping that it will enable them to continue to implement their efforts to stabilise the euro in a step-by-step manner, just as they have done up until now. But the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), where prominent party leaders have been some of the most vocal detractors of Merkel's policies for shoring up the euro, also see the ruling as an opportunity to tie the chancellor's hands further. Party leader Horst Seehofer wants to take advantage of a section of the ruling in which the justices state that German aid cannot be provided in the euro bailout programme without the approval of the Bundestag, Germany's federal parliament. And if he has his way, that amount would never exceed the €190 billion ceiling the court has stipulated as Germany's maximum possible liability under current provisions.
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