Friday, 28 October 2011
Germany's highest court ruled Friday that a special new parliamentary committee set up to make quick decisions on the use of the eurozone rescue fund can't start work for now.
Germany's parliament has to endorse all decisions on using the €440 billion ($618 billion) European Financial Stability Facility, and the court ruling underlines fears that could be problematic in a fast-moving crisis.
The nine-member cross-party committee was set up earlier this week. With members drawn from parliament's full 41-member budget committee, it is meant to expedite decision-making in particularly urgent and sensitive cases.
However, the Federal constitutional Court issued an injunction blocking it from starting work following a complaint from two opposition lawmakers, who argued that delegating decisions to the small panel would violate their rights as members of parliament.
The bar will remain in place until the court rules on their case. It wasn't immediately clear when a decision would come, but rulings from the court typically take several months.
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