There is no such thing as Europe à la carte.
If the EU is taken seriously, all member states are equal before the law.
And the jointly set law of the union of states takes precedence.
This is also expressly recognized by the Federal Constitutional Court.
However, like other constitutional courts, it reserves the right to carry out a final check on questions of its own constitutional identity and has clearly indicated that the actions of the European Central Bank when purchasing government bonds are incompetent and that their control by the European Court of Justice is "absolutely no longer comprehensible" .
The infringement proceedings against Germany that have now been initiated by the EU Commission are by no means compulsory, especially since the specific dispute has been settled for the time being.
But it is understandable that the Commission is taking this step - if only to send a signal to Poland and Hungary: We treat everyone equally.
It is a different matter whether a country violates fundamental rules openly and on a broad front or whether it pulls the emergency brake in a specific case based on established case law.
That would be an indictment
The procedure can have a cleansing effect. Of course, it does not change the separation of powers in Germany. The Federal Chancellery, with which Brussels, as it reports, works closely, has nothing to say to the Karlsruhe judges, even if some people may wish that, or even think about curtailing the powers of the constitutional court. That would be an indictment. Anyone who really wants to prevent Karlsruhe from guarding the constitutional identity within the meaning of the Basic Law and the EU treaties would have to abolish the constitutional court or Germany as a sovereign state.
It is to be hoped that this conflict can also be resolved in the best European, civilized sense. To do this, everyone has to remember their roles. As long as the citizens do not want otherwise, the EU remains an association of states that give it powers. She cannot empower herself.