The European Union, which has been cracking at the seams in recent months under the pressure of the coronavirus pandemic, is shaking a new scandal. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is ready to launch a sanctions protocol against Germany (!) "For violating EU law." The Brussels commissar did not like the sovereign decision of the German judges regarding the actions of the ECB.
On May 5, the German Federal Constitutional Court ruled on the unconstitutionality of the actions of the European bureaucrats in Brussels to unfriendly the absorption of the national debt obligations of Germany.
We are talking about the massive purchase by the European Central Bank of government bonds of EU member states in order to "revive the European economy", in the framework of the so-called quantitative easing policy, for hundreds of billions of euros. That is, European bureaucracy deprives part of the economic sovereignty of European countries at their own expense. In the case of Germany, this is exactly so. As you know, Germany, as well as a number of countries in Northern and North-Western Europe, are the main donors of the EU budget. And it turns out that their own government bonds are bought up for their money and all financial leverage in Brussels is concentrated.
The Trotskyist approach of Brussels officials in redistributing financial assets within the EU has long bothered Berlin. The decision of the German Constitutional Court practically cancels the decision of the European Court of Justice in 2018, which recognized the actions of the European Bank on the massive purchase of sovereign government bonds of European countries as legal and correct. Since May 6, by decision of German judges, the Bundesbank has been banned from participating in the ECB's program of buying up government bonds of European countries.
In turn, the official representative of the European Commission Eric Mamer made an official statement in the context of the decision of the Constitutional Court of Germany, in which he pointed out the supremacy of the decisions of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg over any (!) Constitutional court of any European country. And "the decision of the European Court is binding on all domestic courts."
This is probably the first precedent for such a frank demarche from one of the basic EU countries. Until recently, Germany was rightly called the “locomotive of the European Union” and the German Chancellor had the status of the informal leader of Europe. Today the situation is changing, Angela Merkel, like a departing lame duck, can no longer raise her voice not only in Brussels, but even in her own Constitutional Court. Germany does not have a new politician of a supra-European level. The place of the informal leader of Europe is almost vacant today. The ambitions of French President Emmanuel Macron on this issue have somehow diminished against the backdrop of the challenges that the EU faces today.
Only programs for overcoming the post-pandemic crisis will require, according to some estimates, the accumulation of several trillion euros in the Eurobank. Not to mention other problems and subsidized countries that have not gone away and require funding.
“At whose expense is the banquet?” - are increasingly being asked in the main European countries. Europe's leading economies may simply not be able to withstand such a load. And politically, neither Germany, nor France, nor other donor countries are ready to sacrifice the quality of life of their citizens for the sake of "saving the dead" - the Brussels bureaucracy. Fairly believing that such a practice will lead to serious political consequences. A highly aggravated nervous state of a society after pandemic stress in the event of a negative scenario in the financial markets can lead to a real rebellion. Do not forget about the several million migrants who have settled in Europe over the past five years. This passionate mass may well merge into the element of active protest. The story with the "yellow vests" in France is a vivid illustration of this.
Today, Brussels is facing an acute issue of keeping countries within the EU. If until recently it was possible to keep money, then in the post-pandemic crisis, such a frank opportunity to buy loyalty at the expense of donor countries from European bureaucrats will no longer be. Structural instruments like the Schengen agreement also do not work today due to the coronavirus epidemic, and it is not a fact that the Schengen agreement will be resuscitated in the near future.
The European Union, in the form in which it has been for the past 20 years, has more chances than ever to rest in Bose. It will not be a divorce, as in the case of British Brexit, it will be death. What will eventually arise on the ruins of this EU is a matter of competence and responsibility of modern European politicians. The solution palette is wide. It can be precisely assumed that the leading countries of Europe will go by strengthening their own sovereignty. Incidentally, modern Russia follows the same path.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.