The European Commission decided on Thursday 2 December to close the infringement procedure opened in June against Germany concerning the ruling of the German Constitutional Court in May 2020 which, despite a ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), called into question the proportionality of the ‘PSPP’ of massive repurchase of mainly public securities (‘quantitative easing’) launched by the European Central Bank in 2015 (see EUROPE 12737/26).
The Commission gives several reasons in a press release: - Germany has provided “very strong” commitments by recognising the principles of autonomy, primacy, effectiveness and uniform application of Union law as well as the values laid down in Article 2 TEU, including the Rule of law; - Germany explicitly recognises the authority of the CJEU, whose decisions are final and binding; - Berlin also considers that the legality of acts of Union institutions cannot be made subject to the examination of constitutional complaints before German courts but can only be reviewed by the CJEU; - the German government commits to use all the means at its disposal to avoid, in the future, a repetition of a situation where the Karlsruhe Court considers that the CJEU is exceeding its powers (‘ultra vires’ ruling). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)