Abstract
The relationship between the European Union (EU) and its member states has recently been the subject of several legal proceedings in the German Federal Constitutional Court (GFCC) and the European Court of Justice. The backdrop to the underlying controversies were policies instituted by the European Central Bank (ECB) dealing with the economic and monetary situation in various member states in the context of the sovereign debt crises to influence interest rates, combat deflationary tendencies and keep inflation under but close to the ECB’s 2% inflation target. Especially so-called outright monetary transactions (OMTs) and the corresponding OMT-program and a particular high volume public sector asset purchasing program (PSPP) announced by the ECB have been controversially discussed. Legally, the controversies are about the prohibition for the ECB to finance debt held by the EU or member states (Article 123 TFEU) and about the delineation of economic policy (Article 119 et seq. TFEU), which lies in the hands of the members states, and monetary policy (Article 127 et seq. TFEU), which is exclusively in the hands of the ECB. The GFCC in its decisions propagated a restrictive approach emphasizing the role of the member states and pointing to the doctrines developed by it around ultra vires acts and so-called identity review. This paper attempts to shed some light on this controversy and argues that beyond the legal controversy lies a deeper problem of the relationship between judicial and political decision-making that the GFCC should exercise restraint in exercising its functions and remember its own doctrine of “open constitutional norms” developed in a different context but applicable here as well.
References
Afilalo, A. and D. Patterson, Global Economic Constitutionalism and the Future of Global Trade, 40 University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, no. 2 (2019).Search in Google Scholar
Badura, P., Die Wirtschafts- Und Arbeitsordnung Der Verfassung – Gesetzgebung, Verfassungsgerichtliche Rechtsfindung Und Verfassungsrechtliche Dogmatik, 140 Archiv Des Öffentlichen Rechts (Aör) (2015).10.1628/000389115X14459439830742Search in Google Scholar
Baines, B., D. Barak-Erez and T. Kahana, “Introduction – The Idea and Practice of Feminist Constitutionalism,” in Beverly Baines, Daphne Barak-Erez and Tsvi Kahana (eds.), Feminist Constitutionalism – Global Perspectives (Camebridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).10.1017/CBO9780511980442Search in Google Scholar
Brauneck, J., Erlauben Die Europäischen Verträge Einen Europäischen Währungsfonds Und Einen Europäischen Finanzminister?, Europäisches Wirtschafts- und Steuerrecht (EWS) (2018).Search in Google Scholar
Bröhmer, J., “Containment Eines Leviathans”- Anmerkungen Zur Entscheidung Des Bundesverfassungsgerichts Zum Vertrag Von Lissabon, 12 ZEuS [2009].10.5771/1435-439X-2009-4-543Search in Google Scholar
Bundeskanzlerin, Die, Rede Von Bundeskanzlerin Merkel Zur 18. Jahreskonferenz Des Rates Für Nachhaltige Entwicklung Am 4. Juni 2018, available at: <https://www.bundeskanzlerin.de/bkin-de/aktuelles/rede-von-bundeskanzlerin-merkel-zur-18-jahreskonferenz-des-rates-fuer-nachhaltige-entwicklung-am-4-juni-2018-1141186>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Burchardt, D., Die Ausübung Der Identitätskontrolle Durch Das Bundesverfassungsgericht – Zugleich Besprechung Des Beschlusses 2 BvR 2735/14 Vom 15.12.2015 („Solange III“/“Europäischer Haftbefehl“), 76 ZaöRV (2016).Search in Google Scholar
Council of the European Union, Conclusions of the (Ecofin) Council of 9 May 2010, 9602/10, ECOFIN 262 UEM 176 (May 10, 2010), available at: <https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9602-2010-INIT/en/pdf>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Cuyvers, A., “General Principles of EU Law,” in E. Ugirashebuja et al. (eds.), East African Community Law: Institutional, Substantive and Comparative EU Aspects (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2017).10.1163/9789004322073Search in Google Scholar
Draghi, Mario, President of the ECB, Speech at the Global Investment Conference in London (July 26, 2012), available at: <https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2012/html/sp120726.en.html>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Driffill, J., Unconventional Monetary Policy in the Euro Zone, 27 Open Economies Review (2016).10.1007/s11079-016-9393-0Search in Google Scholar
ECB, Press Release, ECB Announces Details of the Corporate Sector Purchase Programme (CSPP), available at: <https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2016/html/pr160421_1.en.html>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
ECB, Press Release, ECB Announces Details of the Corporate Sector Purchase Programme (CSPP) (April 21, 2016), available at: <https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2016/html/pr160421_1.en.html>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
ECB, Asset-Backed Securities Purchase Programme (ABSPP) – Questions & Answers (January 3, 2019), available at: <https://www.ecb.europa.eu/mopo/implement/omt/html/abspp-faq.en.html>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
ECB, Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP) – Questions & Answers (January 3, 2019), available at: <https://www.ecb.europa.eu/mopo/implement/omt/html/pspp-qa.en.html>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
ECB, Asset Purchase Programmes, available at: <https://www.ecb.europa.eu/mopo/implement/omt/html/index.en.html>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
ECB, How Does the ECB’s Asset Purchase Programme Work?, available at: <https://www.ecb.europa.eu/explainers/tell-me-more/html/app.en.html>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
ECB, The Eurosystem’s Instruments, available at: <https://www.ecb.europa.eu/mopo/implement/html/index.en.html>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
ECB, The Recalibration of the ECB’s Asset Purchase Programme, Economic Bulletin, Issue 7/2017, available at: <https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/economic-bulletin/html/eb201707.en.html#IDofBox2>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
ECB, Third Covered Bond Purchase Programme (CBPP3) – Questions & Answers, available at: <https://www.ecb.europa.eu/mopo/implement/omt/html/cbpp3-qa.en.html>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
ECB, What Is the Expanded Asset Purchase Programme?, available at: <https://www.ecb.europa.eu/explainers/tell-me-more/html/asset-purchase.en.html>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
European Commission, President Jean-Claude Juncker’s State of the Union Address 2017 (September 13, 2017), available at: <http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-17-3165_en.htm>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
European Commission, Press Release IP/18/6381 of 5/12/2018, The EU Budget for 2019: Growth, Solidarity and Security in Europe and beyond – Provisional Agreement Reached, available at: <http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-6381_en.htm>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
European Commission, Press Release IP/19/463, available at: <http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-19-463_en.pdf, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
European Commission Communication, A European Minister of Economy and Finance, 6/12/2017, COM(2017) 823 final, available at: <https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52017DC0823&from=EN>, accessed April 29, 2019Search in Google Scholar
Federal Constitutional Court, Press Release No. 73/2018 of 05 September 2018, available at: <https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/EN/2018/bvg18-073.html>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Federal Ministry of Finance, Monatsbericht – Bundeshaushalt 2010-2015 (June 22, 2015), available at: <https://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/DE/Monatsberichte/2015/06/Inhalte/Kapitel-5-Statistiken/5-1-05-bundeshaushalt-2010-2015.html>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Fuertes, A.-M., E. Kalotychou and O. Saka, How Did the ECB Save the Eurozone without Spending a Single Euro? (March 26, 2015), available at: <https://voxeu.org/article/how-did-ecb-save-eurozone-without-spending-single-euro>, accessed February 4, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Fuertes, A.-M., E. Kalotychou and O. Saka, How Did the ECB Save the Eurozone without Spending a Single Euro? (March 26, 2015), available at: <https://voxeu.org/article/how-did-ecb-save-eurozone-without-spending-single-euro>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
German Federal Council (Bundesrat), Drucksache 755/1/17 (March 12, 2018), available at: <https://www.bundesrat.de/drs.html?id=755-1-17>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Grimm, D., The Democratic Cost of Constitutionalization: The European Case, 21 European Law Journal, no. 4 (2015).10.1111/eulj.12139Search in Google Scholar
HM Treasury (UK), Policy Paper ‘Budget 2018 (October 29, 2018), available at: <https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2018-documents/budget-2018>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Lang, A., Ultra Vires Review of the ECB’s Policy of Quantitative Easing: An Analysis of the German Constitutional Court’s Preliminary Reference Order in the PSPP Case – Bundesverfassungsgericht, Order of July 18 2017, BvR 859/15 Etc., PSPP (Case Note), 55 Common Market Law Review (2018).Search in Google Scholar
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Constitutionalism, available at: <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constitutionalism>, accessed January 27, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Ministry of Finance, Budget Act 2019, available at: <https://www.bundeshaushalt.de/fileadmin/de.bundeshaushalt/content_de/dokumente/2019/soll/Haushaltsgesetz_2019_Bundeshaushaltsplan_Gesamt.pdf>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Mongelli, F.P. and G. Camba-Mendez, The Financial Crisis and Policy Responses in Europe (2007–2018), 60 Comparative Economic Studies, no. 4 (2018).10.1057/s41294-018-0074-4Search in Google Scholar
Mourtada-Sabbah, N. et al. (eds.), The Political Question Doctrine and the Supreme Court of the United States (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2007).Search in Google Scholar
Présidence de la République, Service de Presse, Initiative for Europe, Speech by President M Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic (September 26, 2017), available at: <https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/english_version_transcript_-_initiative_for_europe_-_speech_by_the_president_of_the_french_republic_cle8de628.pdf>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Saiz Arnaiz, A. and C. Alcoberro Llivina (eds.), National Constitutional Identity and European Integration (Antwerp: Intersentia, 2013).Search in Google Scholar
Sanchez, S.I., The Court and the Charter: The Impact of the Entry into Force of the Lisbon Treaty on the ECJ’s Approach to Fundamental Rights, 49 Common Market Law Review (2012).10.54648/COLA2012092Search in Google Scholar
Scharpf, F.W., After the Crash: A Perspective of Multilevel European Democracy, 21 European Law Journal, no. 3 (2015).10.1111/eulj.12127Search in Google Scholar
Schmidt, S.K., The European Court of Justice and the Policy Process: The Shadow of Case Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018).10.1093/oso/9780198717775.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Constitutionalism, available at: <https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/constitutionalism/>, accessed July 22, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis), EU-Haushaltsrahmenrichtlinie – Ausgaben, Einnahmen Und Finanzierungssaldo Des Öffentlichen Gesamthaushalts Nach Ebenen, Quartalsdaten, available at: <https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Staat/Oeffentliche-Finanzen/EU-Haushaltsrahmenrichtlinie/Tabellen/oeffentlicher-gesamthaushalt.html>, accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Stupp, C., Four Countries Push for EU Law to Slash Childcare Benefits (March 6, 2017), available at: <https://www.euractiv.com/section/economy-jobs/news/vocal-member-states-push-for-legal-change-to-slash-childcare-benefits/1124309/> accessed April 29, 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Thornton, D.L., The Downside of Quantitative Easing, 34 Economic Synopses (2010), available at: <https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/es/10/ES1034.pdf>, accessed January 31, 2019.10.20955/es.2010.34Search in Google Scholar
Thornton, D.L., The Downside of Quantitative Easing, 34 Economic Synopses (2010), available at: <https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/es/10/ES1034.pdf>, accessed April 29, 2019.10.20955/es.2010.34Search in Google Scholar
Weis, L.K., Environmental Constitutionalism: Aspiration or Transformation?, 16 International Journal of Constitutional Law, no. 3 (2018).10.1093/icon/moy063Search in Google Scholar
© 2019 Law and Development Review