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The Significance of the 5 May 2020 Judgment of the Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany (Weiss II) for the Process of Integration of the European Union Financial Market

Publication date: 22.01.2024

Financial Law Review, 2023, Issue 32 (4)/2023, pp. 31 - 43

https://doi.org/10.4467/22996834FLR.23.017.19173

Authors

Tomasz Knepka
Faculty of Law and Economics of the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz (Poland).
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6848-8239 Orcid
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Titles

The Significance of the 5 May 2020 Judgment of the Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany (Weiss II) for the Process of Integration of the European Union Financial Market

Abstract

Since the financial crisis of 2007/2008, we have been dealing - at the level of the European Union - with a special "dialogue" between the European and German courts. The subject of this "dialogue" is the decisions of the European Central Bank on the program for the purchase of public sector assets on secondary markets. The ECB's activity, as well as the involvement of the national central banks of the Eurosystem in the implementation of these decisions, has been met with dissatisfaction by German politicians, culminating in the title judgment of the Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany. In the paper, the author analyzed the judgments, particularly from the perspective of the process of integration of the European Union financial market and the importance of the judgments for this process taking into account the key principles of EU law: proportionality and supremacy of EU law.

References

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Andersson, Ch.: Whatever it takes ECB’s Mandate of Purchasing Government Bonds on Secondary Markets, LAGF03 Essay in Legal Science, 2018.

Annunziata, F.: Cannons over the EU legal order: The decision of the BVerfG (5 May 2020) in the Weiss case, Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, Vol. 28(1), 2021.

Annunziata, F.: Fostering Centralization of EU Banking Supervision Through Case-Law. The European Court of Justice and the Role of the European Central Cank, Bocconi Legal Studies Research Paper Series, April 2019.

Anagnostaras, G.: Activating Ultra Vires Review: The German Federal Constitutional Court Decides Weiss, European Papers, No. 1, Vol. 6, 2021.

Case law guide of the European Court of Justice on articles 63 et seq. TFEU - Free movement of capital - 2015 (europa.eu). Available at: https://finance.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2018-11/160223-guide-case-law-free-movement-capital_en.pdf, accessed: 16th September, 2023.

Von Bogdandy, A.: German legal hegemony?, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law Research Paper Series No. 43, 2020.

Baquero Cruz, J.: Karlsruhe and its Discontents, LAW Working Paper, No. 10, 2022.

Barrett, G.: Reflections on the Revolution in Karlsruhe: the Bundesverfassungsgericht Ruling in Weiss, UCD Working Papers in Law, Criminology & Socio-Legal Studies Research Paper No. 18, 2020

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Legal Acts

Consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) [2016] OJ C202/1.

Court Rulings

CJEU ruling of 27th November 2012, C-370/12, Thomas Pringle v Governement of Ireland and Others, (ECLI:EU:C:2012:756).

CJEU ruling of 16th June 2015, C-62/14, Peter Gauweiler and Others v Deutscher Bundestag, (ECLI:EU:C:2015:400).

CJEU ruling of 11th December 2018, C-493/17, Proceedings brought by Heinrich Weiss and Others, Request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesverfassungsgericht (ECLI:EU:C:2018:1000).

CJEU ruling of 22nd January 2014, C-270/12, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland v European Parliament and Council of the European Union, (ECLI:EU:C:2014:18).

CJEU ruling of 15th July 1964, C-6/64, Flaminio Costa v E.N.E.L, (ECLI:EU:C:1964:66).

CJEU ruling of 8th May 2019, C-450/17P, Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg - Förderbank v European Central Bank, (ECLI:EU:C:2019:372).

CJEU ruling of 19th December 2018, C-219/17, Silvio Berlusconi and Finanziaria d'investimento Fininvest SpA (Fininvest) v Banca d'Italia and Istituto per la Vigilanza Sulle Assicurazioni (IVASS), (ECLI:EU:C:2018:1023).

CJEU ruling of 9th September 2020, T-144/18, Crédit agricole SA and Others v European Central Bank, (ECLI:EU:T:2020:390).

Judgment of the Second Senate of 5 May 2020, BVerfG, 2 BvR 859/15-, (paras. 1-237).

Other Official Documents

Commission of the European Communities, Communication from the Commission Implementing the Framework for Financial Markets: Action Plan, Brussels, 11.05.1999 COM(l999) 232 final.

Decision (EU) 2015/774 of the European Central Bank of 4 March 2015 on a secondary markets public sector asset purchase programme (ECB/2015/10).

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Germany) lodged on 15 August 2017 — Heinrich Weiss and Others (Case C-493/17).

Protocol No 4 on the statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, Official Journal of the European Union, C 202.

Opinion of Advocate General Wathelet delivered on 4 October 2018. Proceedings brought by Heinrich Weiss and Others. Request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Case C-493/17).

Press release following the judgment of the German Constitutional Court of 5 May 2020, Court of Justice of the European Union, Press Release No 58/20 Luxembourg, 8 May 2020.

Press release, Technical features of Outright Monetary Transactions, 6 September 2012.

Information

Information: Financial Law Review, 2023, Issue 32 (4)/2023, pp. 31 - 43

Article type: Original article

Authors

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6848-8239

Tomasz Knepka
Faculty of Law and Economics of the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz (Poland).
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6848-8239 Orcid
All publications →

Faculty of Law and Economics of the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz (Poland).

Published at: 22.01.2024

Received at: 11.10.2023

Accepted at: 06.12.2023

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND  licence icon

Percentage share of authors:

Tomasz Knepka (Author) - 100%

Classification number:

JEL Classification System:

Central Banks and Their Policies (E58)

Article corrections:

-

Publication languages:

English