Howard Wheeldon reports: “There is a strong message of dissatisfaction to be found in the increasing number of attacks now being played out by some members of the European Union and of its one size fits all single currency. Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling’s scathing attack on the Brussels plan to reform EU data protection laws added yet another name to the lengthening list of UK Coalition Government ministers who have had quite enough of EU meddling. Meanwhile Germany which is the economic engine of the Eurozone currency is again questioning the legality of the European Stability Fund. (…)
With our fellow EU members increasingly of the view that Britain will in due course opt to leave the EU we may from now on expect to be far less involved in the inner sanctums of Brussels over the next couple of years. We may have responsibility for chairing G-8 but when it comes to the EU it seems that our larger partners have already written us off as having already left. Delaying the holding of a referendum until 2017 will in my view do far more harm than good for both ourselves and our fellow EU members. Better to have the blessed thing in a year from now even if this should mean breaking the Coalition apart. Indeed, the thought of holding a referendum as part of the next General Election makes increasing sense. And should Labour and the Lib-Dems gang up in an attempt to prevent a referendum on the issue occurring I rather suspect that it is they and they alone that would be the losers of the argument with voters.
Meanwhile as Britain fights the internal politics of staying in or leaving the EU Germany is about to go through an interesting legal process that may even force a decision over whether it leaves the Euro. In two days of hearings Germany’s top court is about to listen to strong arguments put before it questioning the legality of the Euro rescue plan that has provided bail out funding for so many of the single currency members failed states. While there can be no certainty that those objecting will win the argument the very fact that the case is being heard by Germany’s top court does have a considerable bearing. It is of course not for me to attempt to pronounce whether Germany should or should not be involved in bailing out its failed Eurozone partners. I am in fact glad that it did because had it not done so all of us – members and non members of the single currency dream – would all have suffered. What we do know is that many in Germany and particularly the Bundesbank have long opposed European Central Bank policy toward providing money to failed states and particularly the EUR500bn European Stability Fund.
Rule nothing in or out and remember that as the Sunday Telegraph pointed out yesterday in an earlier ruling whilst an injunction aimed at halting payment into the fund was thrown out the Court tied the governments hand by capping Germany’s share of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) to EUR190bn and that it blocked the possibility of an ESM bank licence that would have been used for the issue of proposed Eurobonds, debt pooling and eventual fiscal union by prohibiting the Bundestag from “accepting liability for decisions by other states. In addition according to the same newspaper report written by the highly respected Ambrose Evans Pritchard the court said that “the German Government may not lawfully alienate its tax and spending powers to EU bodies, even if it wanted to, for this would undermine German democracy”.
It is certainly possible that should the court rule that Germany’s involvement supporting the fund is illegal that this could lead not only to Germany reconsidering is option of remaining in the single currency area but also, should it decide to leave the whole pack of Euro cards might eventually collapse."
