Germany's highest court and politicians yesterday moved to calm nerves that Bonn's drive to join European economic and monetary union (EMU) could be blocked by a legal bid calling for a delay of the euro.

Top politicians weighed in to assure the public that EMU would go ahead in 1999 as planned, saying there was no need to postpone the single currency project.

The Federal Constitutional Court said it had not yet debated, let alone decided, whether to admit for consideration a complaint filed last month by four academics who believe monetary union should be postponed.

A decision to hear the case could upset the timetable for the launch, scheduled for January, 1, 1999