Riflessioni sulla possibilità e sull’opportunità di aprire una procedura di infrazione nei confronti della Germania a causa della sentenza del Bundesverfassungsgericht sul PSPP,

This paper concerns the Bundesverfassungsgericht’s judgment of 5 May 2020 that applied for the first time the ultra virescounter-limit in respect of the CJEU Weiss judgment and of the ECB’s decision on the PSPP. The Author wonders whether the judgment of the BVerfG could justify the initiation of an infringement procedure under Article 258 TFE and considers that the judgment violates EU law under number of respects. First of all it infringes Article 130 TFEU and Article 7 of Protocol on the Statute of ESCB and ECB providing the principle of independence of the European and of national monetary institutions. Secondly, the BVerfG’s judgment violates Article 19 TEU which confers exclusive competence to the Court of Justice of European Union to review the validity of acts of the institutions of the Union. Furthermore, by ruling that CJEU Weiss judgment is not applicable in Germany, the BVerfG’s judgment breaches Article 267 TFEU since preliminary rulings are binding on national courts. Overall, the Author considers that the BVerfG’s judgment manifestly breaches the principle of the primacy of EU Law. Finally, the Author highlights the specificity of the infringement procedure which is highly political in nature and may have major political implications.