The Federal Constitutional Court opposed a judgment of the European Court of Justice for the first time last week. Criticism came from many camps - especially Ursula von der Leyen. Friedrich Merz sees it quite differently.
Berlin (AP) - Former Union faction leader Friedrich Merz has defended the controversial Karlsruhe ruling on the European Central Bank and criticized EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for her reaction to it.
"The sentence from the EU Commission that European law always takes precedence over national law is simply incorrect in this apodictic form," the CDU politician told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
As long as the member states are the main pillars of the European union of states, the national constitutional courts have the right and the duty "to review the actions of the organs and institutions of their respective member states against the standards of national constitutional law," said Merz. This also includes their actions within the European institutions.
The Federal Constitutional Court criticized the billion-dollar government bond purchases by the ECB last week, thereby opposing a judgment of the European Court of Justice for the first time. Von der Leyen then announced that it would investigate infringement proceedings against Germany. She stressed that monetary policy was the sole responsibility of the EU. In addition, EU law takes precedence over national law and judgments of the ECJ are binding on all national courts.
Merz told the newspapers that the conflict between the Constitutional Court and the CJEU is much deeper than it appears at first glance. "The question is whether the European Court of Justice has a final decision right where competencies can only be exercised jointly by European and national institutions of the member states."
This is the case in monetary policy. "Because with the central banks of the Member States, there are precisely these national institutions that are bound by European law and the law of their countries of origin," said Merz. The decision of the Federal Constitutional Court carefully weighs this up. "It does not bind the ECB as a whole, but it does bind the Deutsche Bundesbank as part of the European Central Bank system."