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The European Commission could take action against Germany following the decision of the country’s Constitutional Court, which asked the ECB to justify, within three months, whether its bond purchases are in line with the mandate, the EU executive announced on Sunday, Reuters reports Sunday according to Agerpres. .
If the ECB cannot prove that its asset acquisitions do not violate European treaties, the German Central Bank must stop buying government bonds under the quantitative easing program launched by the ECB, judges of the German Constitutional Court ruled last week. . a decision with uncertain implications for the future of the ECB program.
The Karlsruhe judges’ decision refers to sovereign bonds worth billions of euros that the ECB has acquired since 2015. Since 2017, the judges of the German Constitutional Court have raised some objections to the Bundesbank’s participation in a The Public Sector Purchase Program (PSPP), which, according to the judges, could mean involving the central bank in direct government financing, which the ECB cannot do.
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In response, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which previously ruled that the procurement program launched by the ECB is in line with European law, and the European Commission reported that EU law takes precedence over national regulations and that the decisions of the CJEU are binding on the courts of the 27 member states of the bloc.
On Sunday, EC President Ursula von der Leyen went on to say that the EU executive could take action against Germany.
“The recent decision of the German Constitutional Court focuses on two EU issues: the Eurosystem and the European legal system. We are now examining in detail the decision of the German Constitutional Court. And we are studying possible decisions that could follow, which could also include infringement proceedings. ” “said the head of the EC.
In accordance with the EU Treaties, the Commission can initiate legal proceedings (called infringement proceedings) against a Member State that does not apply EU law. Therefore, the Commission can appeal to the Court of Justice which, in certain cases, can impose financial sanctions.
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