Our way or no way? German ECB ruling rocks EU foundations

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Tuesday’s ruling by Germany’s constitutional court may have been aimed squarely at the European Central Bank’s bond-buying economic stimulus plans. But it also has the potential to shake the very foundations of the European Union itself.

For what the panel of German jurists did was claim the right of national courts to decide when European law overrules local law, and when it doesn’t. That challenges the supremacy of the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice (ECJ) and sets a precedent for future challenges by Eurosceptics across the bloc.

“This looks more like a message to the ECJ rather than a serious challenge to the ECB. The real issue is, who gets to interpret the law,” said one senior EU official speaking on condition of anonymity.

Since its founding 1957 Treaty of Rome, European Union has been an unparalleled experiment in national sovereignty-sharing. While members retain a great deal of autonomy, its rules set out where EU law – as interpreted by the ECJ – must hold sway.

To be sure, there has been a long history of national courts probing how far they can push their own competence, and of local politicians noisily complaining about EU “diktats”.

But the right of the ECJ to define where EU law is supreme was a principle that even Britain broadly accepted before its exit from the bloc this year. Now that notion has been disputed by a court of a founding EU member, which also happens to be its biggest economy and the main contributor to its budgets.

Moreover it comes at a testing time for a bloc struggling to coordinate its response to the coronavirus pandemic and dealing with the aftermath of Brexit, the hitherto unthinkable departure of a large country from its club of nations.

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Πηγή: reuters.com