Message from Karlsruhe: Constitutional Court rejects further motions against the ECB

The Federal Constitutional Court has again dismissed lawsuits against the purchase of government bonds by the European Central Bank (ECB).

The lawsuits of the former CSU politician Peter Gauweiler and AfD co-founder Bernd Lucke have remained unsuccessful, as the Karlsruhe judges announced on Tuesday.

They are both inadmissible and unfounded.

The lawsuits concerned the “PSPP” christened bond purchase program of the monetary authorities, with which the economy is to be boosted and which was launched at the beginning of 2015.

The Karlsruhe judges classified this as partially unconstitutional in May 2020 and demanded that the monetary authorities have to prove the proportionality of the purchases.

Otherwise the Bundesbank is prohibited from participating in the purchases.

The Governing Council then released documents for the Federal Government and the Bundestag that were intended to prove proportionality.

In July 2020, the Bundestag confirmed with a clear majority that the provisions of the Karlsruhe ruling had been implemented.

But Gauweiler and Lucke did not give up. With their application for a so-called enforcement order, they caused the Karlsruhe judges to review the implementation of the judgment. The Federal Constitutional Court said on Tuesday that it is not evident that the Bundestag and federal government have exceeded their assessment, evaluation and creative leeway in implementing the judgment of May 2020.