On the 5th May 2020, the German Constitutional Court (GCC, in German: Bundesverfassungsgericht, BVerfG) handed down its highly anticipated judgment on the legality of the Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP), one of the pillars of the Eurozone’s Quantitative Easing, ruling that the European Central Bank (ECB) decisions on this stimulus package exceeds EU competences. In doing so, the BVerfG decided to depart from the previous judgment of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), issued in December 2018. 

“The decision of the BVerfG has enormous implications on the principle of primacy of EU law and is setting an enormous precedent. Instead of recognizing the binding nature of the ECJ decisions, a signal we would have wished for in these days, this decision risks legitimising the resistance to the enforcement of ECJ decisions on matters concerning the violations of the Rule of Law that we recently had to witness”, says Clara Föller, Member of the board of JEF Germany.

The relationship between the BVerfG and the ECJ has been characterised by ups and downs since the founding of the EU legal order. While participating in a constructive way to further European integration, the BVerfG has nevertheless always expressed reservations on the principle of primacy of EU law, and in some cases even claimed that it will have the last word on matters concerning EU law. “We are disappointed to see that the BVerfG has decided to undermine the fundamental principles of EU law and may have thus finally endangered the development of an ever closer union”, Clara Föller underlines concerning the judgment.

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