Germany has been one of the strongholds in the Euro debt crisis but doubts are taking hold now amongst the Chancellor’s coalition which is most likely to cause a disruption in their resolve to help with yet another Eurozone bailout. Further, there is a looming threat that this will escalate into a constitutional crisis as the Bundestag begins voting on backing Europe’s rescue efforts.
In the latest news, Chancellor Merkel has cancelled her 7 September trip to Russia in order to be present when the Bundestag will begin reviewing the package on the EU bailout and when Germany’s courts begin ruling on the constitutionality of the bailout package. There is some fear that the court will rule that the rescue fund of 440 billion euros is in breach of Treaty law and may further rule that it can undermine sovereignty in Germany.
It appears that hysteria is sweeping the country as citizens are extremely unhappy with the debt crisis in Europe that has the ability to spill over on their own economy that until this time has been quite solid. The problem in government is that there are 23 members of Merkel’s own party who plan to vote in opposition along with approximately a quarter of the Social Christians of Bavaria. If Merkel is forced to seek support from the opposition, it may spark what is being referred to as a governmental collapse.
In a strong and almost bitter statement last week, German president Christian Wulff accused the ECB (European Central Bank) of going beyond what it had been mandated to do by buying up mass amounts of Italian and Spanish debt and that Europe’s rush towards fiscal union is undermining the core of democracy. He further stated that in a democracy, decisions are made in parliament, implying the added ‘not in financial institutions.’
