BERLIN, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Germany's Federal Constitutional Court on Thursday rejected an application by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) for an injunction against the signing of the German ratification law for the European Union's (EU) comprehensive COVID-19 recovery fund.
The parliamentary group of the AfD requested the court to prohibit Germany's Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier from signing the ratification law. However, the signing had already taken place on April 23 so that the "request for an interim injunction was settled," the court said in a statement.
The AfD had argued that the German government and the Bundestag had "not fulfilled their obligations to preserve the sovereignty of Germany and the overall budgetary responsibility."
Last year, EU leaders agreed on a recovery fund worth 750 billion euros (896.5 billion U.S. dollars) to address the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The European Commission cannot start borrowing and disbursing the COVID-19 fund until all member states have fully ratified the decision.
In Germany, it was approved by the Bundestag and Bundesrat respectively in March.
Already at the end of April, Germany's Federal Constitutional Court rejected an urgent appeal against the recovery fund, clearing legal obstacles for the country to take part in its launch. (1 euro = 1.20 U.S. dollars) Enditem