Awwal 22, 1432 H/Feb 25, 2011, SPA -- German MPs will vote in mid-March on a motion that would rule out most of potential solutions to Europe's debt crisis, possibly tying Chancellor Angela Merkel's hands ahead of a summit aimed at agreeing a deal, according to Reuters. A keenly-awaited decision by Germany's highest court on the efforts to stem the crisis, however, will probably not be made before the second half of the year, legal experts and members of parliament said. The parliamentary motion put forward by ruling coalition deputies this week seeks to rule out bond buybacks by the euro zone's permanent rescue fund and takes a hardline stance that could tie Chancellor Angela Merkel's hands against any strengthening of the euro zone rescue fund. The lower house of parliament said it will vote on the motion on Friday, March 17, after a euro zone summit to thrash out a deal on further steps in the crisis but before a full EU meeting on March 24/25 that would approve the deal. The court ruling on efforts to block the rescue package for Greece and the European Financial Stability Facilty (EFSF) may also impact the planned permanent bailout fund. It was originally expected in spring 2011. "I expect a decision in the second half of the year," Michael Stuebgen, European policy spokesman in parliament for Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, told Reuters. Karl Albrecht Schachtschneider, an attorney who is a leading eurosceptic in Germany and plaintiff in the case, said the decision could even be delayed further. "It is quite well possible that a hearing will only take place at the end of the year," he told Reuters. "A ruling might then be delayed until the beginning of next year." The constitutional court could also decide to defer the case to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to assess whether the mechanisms constitute a breach of the European "No Bailout" clause in the European Treaty. Observers say this unprecedented step was quite possible in this particular case but it was impossible to estimate how likely that scenario is. The case would then go back to the German court for a final decision. "In that case, a ruling would be delayed for another three years", Schachtschneider predicted. LONG AFTER Stuebgen, a member of parliament in Merkel's CDU, welcomed the fact a court decision is now likely to come well after any adoption of the ESM by euro zone leaders in March, replacing the existing bailout fund EFSF in 2013. "This would make sense, because the court could then evaluate the various aid mechanisms and their national implementation in one package," Stuebgen said. He said the court's pending ruling was an important motivation behind the decision of German ruling coalition MPs to press Merkel to rule out purchases of debt by the ESM. "The court is taking the complaint very seriously," he added. Schachtschneider and his group of Eurosceptics have already announced they will also try and block the ESM at the top court as soon as it is passed by the two chambers of German parliament.
