Wolfgang Schäuble, German finance minister, said the fund could be set up and ready to act “within a few weeks”. Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, said they would hold their first meeting as the ESM’s board on October 8.
The judges’ decision on the ESM was greeted by Angela Merkel, German chancellor, as marking “a good day for Germany and a good day for Europe”. Germany had sent a “strong signal” of its determination to resolve the eurozone crisis, she told the Bundestag in Berlin.
Once Berlin has ratified the ESM treaty, with a signature from Joachim Gauck, the state president, the fund will have the necessary legal support from countries representing more than 90 per cent of its financial backing. Only Estonia has yet to ratify. Eurozone members will then have 15 days to raise €80 billion in promised paid-up capital for the fund.
The green light from the court in Karlsruhe, whose decision had been eagerly awaited by financial markets, contained two conditions for Germany’s ratification of the treaty, including an insistence that its financial liability should be capped at €190 billion. Any increase must be sanctioned by the Bundestag, the judges said.
They also demanded that confidentiality in the ESM should not prevent “comprehensive information” on its operations being provided to German parliamentarians.
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