German high court rejects call to postpone decision on European bailout measures

BERLIN – Germany’s high court says it has rejected a last-minute plea to postpone its ruling on the request for an injunction blocking the country’s ratification of the eurozone’s permanent bailout fund.

The complaint was brought by Peter Gauweiler, a backbench lawmaker with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc and a consistent opponent of the government’s euro rescue strategy, after the European Central Bank last week unveiled a program to buy government bonds.

But the Federal constitutional Court said in a short statement Tuesday that it would go ahead with its scheduled ruling on Wednesday on whether to issue an injunction preventing the country’s president ratifying Germany’s participation in the European Stability Mechanism and fiscal pact.

Gauweiler and others argue the ESM and fiscal pact violate Germany’s constitution.