A ‘misguided’ judgment? The German Const. Court Ruling against the ECB

While the Recovery Fund seem to have given new impetus to the creation of EU-level policies to fight the pandemic, the German Constitutional Court ruling on the ECB actions during the Eurozone crisis has casted doubts on the capacity of the central bank to support the single currency.
On May 5 the judges in Karlsruhe ruled that the European Court of Justice had exceeded its authority in its 2018 ruling on the ECB’s Public-Sector Asset Purchase Programme. Once again the demands of the Eurozone economy — specially during a crisis situation— seem to clash with the current legal framework, which raises the interesting question of how to both defuse institutional tensions and guarantee a functioning monetary system. This is especially problematic if one sees the institutional tension as the result of a legitimate defense of democratic principles.

Was this ruling really “misguided”, as the Financial Times claimed? Or is it instead a welcome democratic check on an otherwise uncontrolled and uncontrollable ECB?

We will try to answer these question at the upcoming Policy Webinar with the help of Mark Dawson and Ana Bobic (Hertie School of Governance) and Martin Hellwig (Max Planck Institute)