Courtesy of Mish.
Reader “Bert” from Germany writes …
Hello Mish
The German Supreme Court asked the president to delay signing the ESM. This is unprecedented. The court needs more time to study the proposal, they say.
So no ESM yet! I was waiting and hoping for this kind of action.
Kind regards and please keep going on with your very interesting mail service, I never skip a day.
Bert
Another Setback for Merkel
Bert sent this link from Faz: Gauck unterzeichnet Fiskalpakt vorerst nicht.
The Google translation was so bad I won’t even post it.
Instead, please consider the Spiegel Online English version report Germany Faces Delay in Ratifying Euro Rescue Fund
Germany’s highest court asked the country’s president on Thursday to delay ratification of the permanent euro bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, and the fiscal pact into law next week. If he complies, the move could delay the implementation of the ESM by several weeks in the latest setback for Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The Constitutional Court, anticipating challenges to the legislation, wanted more time to review documents. German President Joachim Gauck, hardly three months in office, was already faced with an important decision. If he complied with the request from Karlsruhe, at least one piece of legislation proposed by Chancellor Merkel and her coalition government — the permanent bailout fund known as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) — would undoubtedly be delayed. The ESM was originally scheduled to come into force on July 1, 2012.
Gauck doesn’t want to sign the two laws, at least for now, when they are presented to the two houses of the German legislature — the federal parliament, the Bundestag, and the upper legislative chamber, the Bundesrat — for ratification next week. However, laws in Germany are only considered ratified, and therefore binding under international law, when signed by the president. Now it could take another two or three weeks before the court rules on possible emergency appeals.
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