Germany’s finance minister has warned he is prepared to go to court to overturn Brussels’ plans for a euro-zone-wide deposit guarantee scheme.

The move is the starkest warning yet that the region’s most powerful member is implacably opposed to the proposal in its current form.

In a sign of heightened tension over the deposit insurance plan, Wolfgang Schäuble also fired a shot across the bow of the European Central Bank for advocating it, saying Frankfurt was improperly intervening in a policy beyond its monetary remit.

Speaking during a public session at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels, Mr Schäuble lashed out at Vitor Constâncio, the ECB’s vice-president, saying the bank was running roughshod over rules requiring it to have a firewall between monetary policy decision making and bank oversight.

– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2015