The conflict between the EU and Germany over the judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court on the bond purchases by the European Central Bank (ECB) has been resolved.

The EU Commission closed its infringement proceedings against Germany that it had initiated in June on Thursday.

She justified this with the fact that the German government recognized the "primacy and autonomy" of European law in a statement made in August.

Germany also promised to recognize the authority of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), whose judgments are final and binding.

Berlin has also undertaken to use all available means to “avoid” further “ultra vires” decisions.

Werner Mussler

Business correspondent in Brussels.

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Marlene Grunert

Editor in politics.

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The background to this is that the Federal Constitutional Court, with its ECB ruling, had opposed the ECJ for the first time, which the Commission saw as a threat to the primacy of Union law. The ECJ had previously declared the bond purchase program to be lawful. But neither his assessment nor the considerations of the ECB convinced the German constitutional judges. They used the ultra vires control that had been developed over the years. From Karlsruhe's point of view, it takes effect when a European institution exceeds the authorizations that have been assigned to it by the member states. The Karlsruhe judges classified both the bond purchase program and the decision of the ECJ as such an “outbreak of legal act”.According to the constitutional judges, the central bank has overstretched its monetary policy mandate and undermined the budget control rights of the German parliament. They asked for a justification that would make a judicial review of proportionality possible. The central bank then explained its program to the Bundestag in more detail. The German parliament approved it and the Federal Constitutional Court was satisfied.

A year later, however, the Commission started infringement proceedings.

In its opinion of August, the Federal Government pointed out that the Constitutional Court had accepted the ECB explanations in the Bundestag and their approval there.

In addition, the Karlsruhe jurisprudence has long been friendly to European law.