In the end it went just as expected. The second senate of the Bundesverfassungsgericht, the German Constitutional Court, has rejected the urgent appeal which requested the release of a precautionary provision that would block the ratification of the ESM treaty, the new European state-saving fund. The law authorizing the entry into force of the Permanent Stability Mechanism can then be ratified by the President of the Republic, Joachim Gauck. But only after the German Parliament has amended the current authorization law, clarifying that Germany will not be able to take risks beyond the limit set at 190 billion without an explicit approval law from the Bundestag.
In essence, for each decision of the ESM board of governors (particularly for those decisions that may amplify the financial risk for Germany by limiting the right of Parliament to shape the state budget) there must be a law approving the Bundestag. Up to now, therefore, the German representative in the ESM would have had his hands a little too free and the Court has once again intervened to bind them to the will of Parliament. In short, it is a sentence that fits into the jurisprudential tradition of the Constitutional Court of Karlsruhe, which ever since Maastricht, then passing through Lisbon and the Esfs, has always made clear the need not to deprive the Bundestag of its power to decide on the budget. The sentence, about eighty pages long, undoubtedly contains in its folds other yellow lights on the future of European integration. yellow lights, hidden for now, which constitutionalists will discuss in the coming months.
At the moment what matters is that the ESM can enter into force as soon as the Bundestag has complied with the changes requested by the Constitutional Court. Which opens the door to a possible new dispute before the Court. The main appellant, the Bavarian CSU deputy Peter Gauweiler, will undoubtedly bring the modified authorization law to the attention of the judges in Karlsruhe, delaying once again – even if perhaps only for a few hours – the ratification by the President of the Republic .
It is certainly a good day for Mrs Merkel. The ESM, wanted by you and your finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, has not been rejected, as feared by many. On the other hand, Parliament's gauntlet represents a considerable political obstacle for the Chancellor, who since the beginning of the year has lost the support of her majority on issues of European importance and must rely on the crucial support of the opposition.
Read the press release of the German Constitutional Court (in English).
