Top German court approves ESM

 Top German court approves ESM

BERLIN, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Federal Constitutional Court of Germany approved the ratification¹ of the European Stability Mechanism² (ESM) Wednesday, paving the way for the permanent bailout fund and other crisis-battling instruments to go into operation.

The Karlsruhe-based court decided³ not to issue a temporary injunction demanded by plaintiffs to prevent German President Joachim Gauck from completing the ratification process of the ESM and the European fiscal⁴ pact⁵ by signing them into law.

But the court said the German parliament should "receive comprehensive information" over future decisions made by the ESM and Germany's financial burden in the fund should be limited to its share of the capital stock or about 190 billion euros (245 billion U.S. dollars).

Any increase of the burden should not happen "without agreement of German representatives," said Court President Andreas Vosskuhle in a statement.

The court said Germany must state clearly that German interest should be respected in the ESM and Germany reserves the right to opt⁶ out of the mechanism.

The court has been considering more than 1,000 petitions against the ESM and the fiscal pact filed by German lawmakers, economists⁷, professors and ordinary people since July. Around 37,000 plaintiffs were involved.

The opponents argue that the ESM, as well as the fiscal pact to enforce budget discipline, strips the parliament of the power to decide how taxpayers⁸' money should be used, thus infringing⁹ German constitution.

They fear that Germany's contribution to the fund could be increased when the debt crisis spreads further in Europe.

Once coming into force, the ESM will have a capacity of 500 billion euros for lending and purchasing bonds of indebted countries, such as Greece and Portugal.

However, this will not happen until the ESM is ratified¹⁰ by countries contributing more than 90 percent of its 700-billion-euro capital stock, among which 27 percent comes from Germany.

German parliament has approved the ESM, together with the fiscal pact, late June. But the ratification process was suspended because President Gauck decided not to sign the treaty establishing the ESM into law as the Constitutional Court requested enough time to review complaints.

A final verdict over the constitutionality of the ESM is expected in December. Wednesday's decision, however, has given a clear signal of how the court will rule eventually.

Once Gauck gives his signature, which is expected to happen soon, Germany will be obliged to contribute to the ESM, even if it is found unconstitutional in the future.

The court's decision also removed an obstacle for the European Central Bank's (ECB) open-end bond purchasing program, another instrument announced last week to battle the three-year-old debt crisis in Europe.

According to ECB President Mario Draghi, applying for bailout from European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) or the ESM is one of the preconditions for a European country to receive ECB's bond-purchasing aid.

The temporary fund EFSF is set to expire on June 30, 2013, and has around 140 billion euros of bailout fund left available. The ESM, which was originally scheduled to come into force in July 2012, has been expected to help increase the "firewall" and calm market. (1 euro = 1.29 U.S. dollars)

1 ratification   

n.批准，认可

参考例句：

• The treaty is awaiting ratification.条约正等待批准。
• The treaty is subject to ratification.此条约经批准后才能生效。

2 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

5 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

6 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

7 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

9 infringing   

v.违反（规章等）( infringe的现在分词 )；侵犯（某人的权利）；侵害（某人的自由、权益等）

参考例句：

• The material can be copied without infringing copyright. 这份材料可以复制，不会侵犯版权。
• The media is accused of infringing on people's privacy. 人们指责媒体侵犯了大家的隐私。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。