Bulletin n. 1-2/2014
November 2014
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Dietrich Murswiek
    ECB, ECJ, Democracy, and the Federal Constitutional Court: Notes on the Federal Constitutional Court’s Referral Order from 14 January 2014
    in German Law Journal , vol. 15, issue 2 ,  2014 ,  147-165
    The European Central Bank’s (ECB) program of purchasing government bonds, the OMT program (Outright Monetary Transactions Program), which was announced on 6 September 2012, is illegal. With this program, the ECB transgresses its powers. This is the central message of the Federal Constitutional Court’s decision from 14 January 2014. However, the decision is not final. The Federal Constitutional Court has suspended the trial and has referred the matter to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling. Only after the ECJ has examined the compatibility of the OMT program with European law will the Federal Constitutional Court pronounce its final judgment. The decision of the Federal Constitutional Court is of great importance in many respects. It illuminates the role of the central bank and develops criteria for the concretization of its competences (see Section B). In doing so, the Federal Constitutional Court makes use of its claimed right to an ultra vires review and, for the first time, determines a transgression of powers by an EU institution (see Section C). The right of every citizen to initiate such proceedings before the Federal Constitutional Court through his or her constitutional complaint has been strengthened (see Section D).
    ©2001 - 2020 - Centro Studi sul Federalismo - P. IVA 94067130016