When judges must rely on newspapers to clarify a decision they decided a week before, something seems to have gone wrong. However, while the BVerfG seems to be taken aback by the storm of indignation that burst upon them since last week’s PSPP decision, the judges remain adamant in their criticism of the CJEU. Luxembourg should perhaps even fear another ultra vires decision.
On skewed pictures, failed PR campaigns and the ongoing fallout of last week's ultra vires judgment of the Bundesverfassungsgericht.
Über schiefe Bilder, schief gegangene PR-Kampagnen und den fortdauernden Fallout des Ultra-Vires-Urteils des Bundesverfassungsgerichts.
It is the argument of this blog post that the Commission must activate the procedure of Article 258 TFEU and sue (Germany for the grave breach of EU law by) the BVerfG. As I maintain, this action is constitutionally necessary, legally sound, and it may ultimately help achieve an important integration function – neutralizing the minefield that the BVerfG built around the future of Europe.
Ist im kalten Krieg zwischen Luxemburg und Karlsruhe die Atombombe gefallen? Und kann es sein, dass sie ihr Ziel verfehlt hat? Während Karlsruhe den Ultra-Vires-Backlash mit einer PR-Offensive in den großen deutschen Zeitungen einzudämmen versucht, ändert sich an den grundlegenden Problemen nichts. Diese, so ANUSHEH FARAHAT im Gespräch mit Max Steinbeis, liegen nämlich viel tiefer: In transnationalen Solidaritätskonflikten, unklaren Kompetenzordnungen und fehlendem politischen Willen, die europäischen Probleme wirklich anzugehen.
Welches Verständnis von Demokratie, Verfassung und staatlicher Souveränität liegt der "Ultra Vires"-Entscheidungen des BVerfG zu Grunde? Welche möglichen längerfristigen Motive treibt die Richterinnen und Richter zu einer derartigen Eskalation an? Zu dieser und anderen Fragen unterhält sich Alexander Melzer mit dem Politikwissenschaftler OLIVER LEMBCKE von der Ruhr-Universität Bochum.
I cut my teeth studying the German Constitutional Court’s relationship with the European Court of Justice. A recent article in the Financial Times used the metaphor of a dance to explain the GCC’s history of pushing back against the ECJ’s authority. In 2001, I called it a game of chicken. I don’t worry that playing chicken with the ECJ inevitably leads to European disintegration. The GCC’s ECB ruling is, however, the wrong decision issued at the wrong time. Economic policy-makers will and should ignore the ruling, and for this reason I expect the GCC to step back from the brink, once again. But harm is nonetheless being inflicted on a tottering global economy, a fragile European project, and a disintegrating popular support for the rule of law.
Upon reading the BVerfG’s bombshell PSPP decision, one cannot but be struck at how little it thinks of the quality of the legal reasoning of the CJEU with regards to the proportionality test. If one is to judge others so harshly, it is wise to make sure that one’s own position is irreproachable. The BVerfG failed to do so.
Judges at war? Judges at dance? Or is it just a tragedy? On the FCC ultra vires decision, its fallout and other topics of this eventful week.
Krieg der Richter? Tanz der Richter? Oder einfach nur ein Trauerspiel? Über eine Woche im Schatten des ominösen PSPP-Urteils aus Karlsruhe.
13. September 2025
Giovanni Capoccia
12. September 2025
Anne Peters
12. September 2025
Anne Peters