Controlling the levers of power

Policies forced on bailed-out states are about showing the ‘big boys’ are in charge, writes Ray Kinsella

THE shape, and severity, of the forthcoming budget is being determined, not in the Dáil but in Karlsruhe, seat of the German Federal Constitutional Court.

Today the court will publish its findings regarding whether, or not, to issue an injunction delaying German approval of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the provisions of Fiscal Compact, in order to consider whether they are contrary to the country’s constitution — effectively whether there has there been too much of a transfer of power to outside unelected institutions and political forums.