ESM head to Der Spiegel: rescue fund needs Germany

NEW YORK (MarketWatch)
The European Stability Mechanism won’t succeed if Germany’s highest court rules against it, the chief of the rescue fund told a German news weekly, according to reports published Saturday.
“Without Germany, the ESM doesn’t make any sense,” Klaus Regling, told Der Spiegel in an interview to be published Monday, Britain’s Telegraph and Bloomberg News reported.
If all euro-area nations meet budget consolidation targets and increase their competitiveness, the sovereign debt crisis could end within two years, Regling also told the magazine                                
The European Financial Stability Facility has succeeded in preventing the worst possible scenarios of the debt crisis, now in its third year, Regling said of the EFSF, scheduled to be replaced by the permanent ESM                               
The launch of ESM is dependent upon a ruling due Sept. 12 from Germany’s constitutional court                               
“If it weren’t for us, Portugal and Ireland would probably no longer be in the euro zone,” Regling told Der Spiegel