GERMANY'S high court yesterday upheld the country's participation in eurozone bailout funds, but ruled that lawmakers should be more involved in such decisions.

The ruling means that while Germany's agreement to take part in the financial rescue of Greece will not be affected, participation in future bailouts might become more complicated.

Presiding judge Andreas Vosskuhle said even though the Federal Constitutional Court had rejected lawsuits arguing that Germany's participation had violated parliament's right to control spending of taxpayers' money, it was not giving a rubber-stamp to the chancellor's office.

The verdict "should not be misinterpreted as a constitutional blank check for further rescue packages," Vosskuhle said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the ruling, telling parliament the court had "absolutely confirmed" her government's policies.

She said: "The Federal Constitutional Court said personal responsibility and solidarity, naturally with the absolute approval of parliament, is the way."

In a defense of the 17-nation euro, she told lawmakers the currency meant more to Europe than just a common monetary zone, noting that no countries with a shared currency had ever gone to war with one another.

"The euro is the guarantor of a unified Europe," she said. "If the euro collapses, Europe collapses."

Last year Germany's parliament agreed to join in a bailout of Greece to keep it from defaulting on its debts, and to back the US$620 billion European Financial Stability Facility with US$207 billion in loan guarantees.

In future, Vosskuhle said there should be greater involvement from parliament in such decisions. "The government is obliged in cases of large expenditures to win the approval of the parliamentary budgetary committee," he said.

Lawsuits were filed by Conservative legislator Peter Gauweiler and a group of professors arguing that parliament's budgetary rights were undermined by participation in the bailouts