German Federal Constitutional Court blocks presidential approval of EBRD funds

The European Union (EU) last December painstakingly approved €750 billion worth of recovery funds to support member states hit by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus Epidemic, but the German Federal Constitutional Court on Friday, March 26, banned the German president from signing the agreement on the grounds that it violates the EU agreement and infringes on German sovereignty.

According to Politics Week, Germany‘s lower house, the Bundestag, voted overwhelmingly in favor on Thursday, March 25, of a 750 billion euro revival fund that would allow the European Union to support member states hit by the Chinese Communist virus (also known as the new coronavirus, COVID-19) by providing them with debt in order to revive the EU’s economy, which has been severely damaged by the “Chinese Communist virus. “The bill has been submitted to the German Federal Senate.

The bill was submitted to the German Bundesrat (upper house) for approval and was to be subsequently signed into law by the German President.

However, the German Federal Constitutional Court issued a preliminary decision on Friday, March 26, barring the German president from approving the fund program while the case is under urgent consideration by the court. Bernd Lucke, an economics professor at the University of Hamburg and founder of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD party), took the German government to court with the Citizens’ Will Alliance, saying that the fund plan would give the EU an unprecedented amount of debt and violate the EU’s duty to submit a balanced budget as stipulated in the EU agreement. It violates the EU’s duty to present a balanced budget, and infringes on the German government’s sovereign right to formulate its own budget bill.

The report said 2,200 Germans support the plaintiffs, Luke and the Citizens’ Will Coalition, because they fear that some of Europe’s poorer economies will not be able to repay the loan in the future.

The EU approved in December last year a total of 750 billion euros worth of recovery funds, of which 500 billion euros were granted under the appropriation and do not need to be repaid, and 250 billion euros were granted under the loan and need to be repaid. But this program in the process of consideration has been the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Denmark four countries opposed, they oppose that according to the allocation of 500 billion euros will make the economic burden of EU member states too heavy; finally this fund plan has finally been approved by the European Parliament and the EU, has been handed over to the EU member states parliamentary approval.

The European Commission 26 then said they believe that the German Federal Constitutional Court will finally approve the German President’s approval of the bill and allow the German two chambers to pass the bill in the second quarter of this year.

But Germany’s highest court did not provide a timetable for a final decision on the case.

To protect Germany’s sovereignty and the German economy, the German Federal Constitutional Court also banned the German central bank (ECB) from participating in the EU member states’ bond quantitative easing program on May 6, 2020, but the ruling was eventually overruled by the European Federal Court of Justice.