Why the conflict between Karlsruhe and Europe was buried a little too quietly

A conflict that was supposed to divide the Federal Republic and the EU has now been buried rather quietly. It was about the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court on bond purchases by the European Central Bank (ECB) in 2020. Karlsruhe had criticized the monetary policy measure to support the euro zone and its confirmation by the European Court of Justice as an “outbreak of legal act”, as a measure beyond the EU’s competencies (” ultra vires “). For its part, this judgment was interpreted as a legal act that broke out: Karlsruhe had called the primacy of application of EU law into question.

There is no “last word” of judgment

People in Poland were happy because the ECB ruling was read as an authorization to distance oneself from the EU-wide rule of law. For good, because general preventive reasons, the EU Commission initiated infringement proceedings against Germany – which have now been closed with just as good reasons. Because the conflict can only be negotiated on a case-by-case basis; it cannot be resolved; there is no “last word” of judgment. The EU depends on its program being in harmony with the constitutions of the member states, including their state sovereignty.

This is successful in the Federal Republic of Germany. The case law from Karlsruhe remains Europe-friendly. The ECB ruling was not an attack on EU law; on the contrary, it called for its validity for the ECB. The Polish Constitutional Court, on the other hand, is increasingly aiming for real confrontation.

Different cases are to be treated differently. The Commission succeeded in doing this. The proceedings against Berlin had to be discontinued because the federal government had “made very clear promises”. She also promised “to use all means available to her in order to actively avoid a repetition of an ultra-vires finding in the future”.

It will have been said what Brussels wanted to hear

In essence, these are empty phrases, because these means should hardly include replacing the judges’ staff in Karlsruhe. Rather, everything will have been said that Brussels wanted to hear without betraying the ultra vires case law. Because the government is also bound by these.

A border crossing, of course, a permissible one. The only strange thing is that it took place in the fog. The commitments from Berlin have not yet been announced. It’s okay to quietly bury the conflict. But this funeral was all too quiet.