Germany court upholds ECB bond-buying program News
Germany court upholds ECB bond-buying program

Germany’s top court [official website] ruled [press release] Tuesday that a bond-buy program created by the European Central Bank (ECB) [official website] complies with German law. The unlimited bond-buying program was created at the height of Europe’s debt crisis. The program, called Outright Monetary Transaction [ECB profile], was created in September 2012 in order to save the Euro. The program itself has never been used. Many against the program complain that the ECB has overstepped its authority and is taking advantage of the system. However, the Federal Constitution Court ultimately decided that the program “doesn’t present a constitutionally relevant threat the German Parliament’s right to decide on the budget.” This is not the first time the German court has had to deal with this issue. In February 2014 the Court removed [JURIST report] this same case to the European Court of Justice.

This is the latest development in the ongoing struggle to establish financial stability in the EU. In January 2015 EU Advocate General Cruz Villalon gave legal support [JURIST report] to the ECB program as an attempt to remedy the financial crisis in the Eurozone. In September 2014 the EU parliament approved [JURIST report] a new bank supervisory mechanism. Last November the ECJ ruled [JURIST report] that the Eurozone’s permanent bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, is in line with European law. The ruling came following several member states’ own courts finding the ESM constitutional under their own laws, including Estonia and Germany [JURIST reports]. That June the European Commission [official website] announced [JURIST report] a proposal that would address the problems of bailing out large banks with public funds during financial crises in the future.

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