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FRANKFURT — A group of citizens on Friday filed a constitutional complaint against Germany for allowing the European Union to borrow €750 billion earmarked for the Next Generation EU recovery fund.
The group of more than 2,200 citizens filed the complaint against the ratification law on the so-called EU Own Resources Decision, the group’s spokesperson Bernd Lucke said in a statement. The group argues that the EU is contractually obligated to present a balanced budget and that the €750 billion in debt-financing is “a blatant breach of contract.”
Germany’s lower house of parliament on Thursday voted by a large majority in favor of an EU plan to take on joint debt and to support those member countries hit worst by the coronavirus crisis.
The group also filed a temporary injunction with the aim of prohibiting the federal president from signing the law until the Federal Constitutional Court has ruled on the complaint.
German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said he expects the German Constitutional Court to green-light the recovery fund.
“The experience with comparable lawsuits makes me confident that the ratification of the capital adequacy resolution can be completed in a timely manner,” Scholz said in an emailed statement.
He also said that lawmakers’ vote was a clear signal for European solidarity and strength. “In Germany, a broad, cross-party majority stands for a Europe that is based on solidarity and capable of acting,” he said.
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