More good days?

Angela Merkel wasn’t the sole to breath a sign of relief on September 12, when the German Constitutional Court pronounced its decision on Germany’s participation in the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the so-called bailout fund. All capitals jointly remarked: "it’s a good day for Europe". This ruling gave the green light to the adoption of the permanent ESM and the Fiscal Pact, which binds eurozone countries to undertake stability and budgetary discipline. Both treaties are bound to each other and they entail a harmonious relationship between solidarity and stability. The Constitutional Court stipulated that the two treaties comply with Fundamental German law. The Court also declared their liability is limited to the €190 billion committed in the treaty, (27% of a €500 billion fund, paid in by governments of the 18-nation currency) which cannot be increased without the consent of the Bundestag. It also affirmed the right of the German Federal Parliament to be consulted on ESM decisions.With the ruling of September 12 the German Constitutional Court took some time, underlining the importance of the procedure. Already past June, the Bundestag adopted, with a two-thirds majority vote, the ESM Treaty and the Fiscal compact. However, About 37,000 people signed up to endorse a constitutional complaint filed by opposition party Die Linke and other plaintiffs from the political spectrum, as well as eurosceptic academics and citizens who sought an injunction against the ESM bailout, amounting to the first-ever petition to the Constitutional Court with such a large number of challengers. Petitions were signed for various reasons all linked to the principle that a plan to get government commitments in favour of a body escaping Bundestag supervision breached the Constitution, thus limiting the German Parliament’s spending powers. The high number of petitioners shows that the euro bailout plan is considered controversial in Germany. According to surveys, Germany’s majority population opposes the fact that eurozone’s countries’ indebtedness, due to impractical policies or to foolishness, receive ever more consistent bailout funds, explicitly prohibited by European treaties. Eurosceptics don’t believe that ESM bailout funds will ever be paid back. Nor are they impressed by fiscal pact obligations or by European bodies’ requests to indebted countries benefiting from ESM funds, amounting, inter alia, to the recovery of competitiveness and growth, lowering indebtedness levels. This attitude is the result of mistrust, fuelled by populist anti-European propaganda. Despite the current popularity of these theses, the political system of the German Federal Republic until today has opposed the media pressure of eurosceptics. The behaviour of a large number of MEPs, as well as that of government and opposition parties, exemplifies an extraordinary maturity, awareness, and a sense of responsibility, deriving from the correct evaluation of the importance of Monetary Union as the material heart of European unity. Moreover, the European unification project continues being welcomed by a significant majority of Germans, which however decreased in recent years because of the crisis. For this reason, the positive ruling of the Constitutional Court, which is above partisan positions of national parties, and which enjoys extensive esteem, is important not only in the framework of European monetary union, but also considering the controversial debate, juridical peace in Germany, while countering eurosceptic populism. A good day for Europe is always a good day also for Germany.