A GERMAN COURT will this morning rule on whether or not the country’s government broke the law when it agreed to fund a bailout of Greece.
The Federal Constitutional Court will rule on a case taken by a politician and an academic in Kalsruhe who both argued that the government’s bailout decisions violated both EU and German law.
Specifically they challenged Germany’s involvement in the €110 billion bailout of Greece last year but the country’s involvement in the wider EU assistance fund which has helped both Ireland and Portugal will also be implicated in this result.
Germany is the largest single contributor to the EU’s emergency assistance fund.
It is believed that although the country’s highest constitutional court is unlikely to block its participation in the bailout funds it will set conditions for any further German assistance provided to Eurozone countries.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will address parliament after the ruling which is expected at 9am Irish time, RTÉ reports.
The decision is likely to cause further jitters in the markets when they open later this morning.
Already there are concerns over the austerity measures being imposed in Italy, protests against austerity in Spain, and concern over whether Greece’s second bailout will go through amid demands for collateral in return for support from Finland.
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