MEDE (ESM) todavía no ratificado por Alemania

Genevieve Signoret & Patrick Signoret

El fondo de rescate europeo permanente, MEDE, que debe comenzar a operar el 1 de julio, todavía no ha sido ratificado por Alemania. FT explica qué pasa con la política interna que está posponiendo la aprobación del fondo de rescate por parte del parlamento; todo apunta a que el MEDE, junto con el nuevo pacto fiscal europeo, va a ser aprobado prácticamente a última hora, el 29 de junio. En una noticia relacionada, la Corte Federal Constitucional de Alemania el martes emitió un nuevo fallo que limita el poder de Merkel para acordar o adoptar políticas europeas sin antes consultar e informar al parlamento (Bloomberg). El fallo no afecta el MEDE o el pacto fiscal, pero es un recuerdo de la importancia de la política doméstica en Alemania y el resto de la zona para las decisiones que toman los líderes europeos en respuesta a la crisis del euro.

Financial Times 17 junio: Merkel under pressure at home on fiscal pact:

Yet four months after persuading 25 partners to sign the treaty, the German chancellor is still locked in political wrangling at home over how and when it should be approved by the German Bundestag and Bundesrat, the lower and upper houses of the national parliament.

Ms Merkel has linked the vote on the fiscal pact to approval for the parallel treaty setting up the €500bn European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the permanent eurozone rescue fund that is supposed to be set up by the beginning of July. It now looks as if parliamentary ratification of both measures could be delayed until the evening of June 29 – the last possible moment for the eurozone rescue fund to be operative when the markets open on July 2.

The tentative deal is that Ms Merkel will fly home from the EU summit in Brussels on June 29 to prove to the parliament that she is backing a clear EU growth strategy, and has fought for a financial transaction tax [FTT] to be adopted throughout the eurozone to help finance the recovery.

[…] Of course it could all be political posturing by the parties in opposition, the centre-left Social Democrats and the environmentalist Greens. No serious political analyst believes that the Bundestag will end up refusing ratification for the treaties, even with a two-thirds majority. The SPD and Greens are even more pro-European than Ms Merkel.

[…] The SPD does not want to see François Hollande, France’s new president, get all the credit for a new growth push. The party also wants to embarrass Ms Merkel. The FTT is a bitterly divisive measure inside her coalition, hitherto strongly opposed by the liberal Free Democrats unless all 27 EU states – including Britain – impose it.

For her part, Ms Merkel could have agreed to split the votes. The fiscal compact does not come into effect until January. But she fears that if she calls a vote on the ESM alone, she may face a damaging revolt by her own supporters. Only by linking approval of the rescue fund to the strict rules of the fiscal pact can she persuade them that German taxpayers are protected.

Yet behind the short-term political manoeuvring lies a deeper problem: the fiscal pact amounts to a profound intrusion into national sovereignty for all the signatories, including Germany.

So it is not just the opposition parties that are giving Ms Merkel trouble: it is all 16 federal states – the Länder – that fear the loss of their budgetary authority. They are demanding sweeping reassurances that it will not be a back door to a centralisation of authority. Further talks are due on June 21.

Bloomberg:

The Federal Constitutional Court said in a ruling today the government’s constitutional duty to have parliament participate in matters of European Union integration also covers the ESM. The ruling doesn’t affect the implementation of the permanent bailout fund, which German lawmakers are scheduled to vote on June 29.

[…] This is at least the third ruling from Germany’s top court limiting Chancellor Angela Merkel’s discretion to adopt EU bailout policies without consulting lawmakers. The judges in February limited the powers of a parliamentary committee set up to approve emergency actions by the European Financial Stability Facility, saying more lawmakers need to be involved. In September it ruled the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, must keep authority over budgetary aspects of the EFSF, the region’s temporary bailout fund.

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