German Constitutional Court and The European Peace Facility
“I had one concern,” Scholz told reporters in June, after meeting fellow European leaders.
“Do I want to accept that we issue sovereign bonds, so-called eurobonds, for defense financing? The answer is no.”
The federal constitutional court in Karlsruhe has a long tradition of policing the limits of Germany’s contributions to multinational debt raises.
While Spain’s economy minister Carlos Cuerpo told Bloomberg earlier this year that the EU ought to be able to find a mechanism that’s acceptable to the red-robed judges in Karlsruhe, legal experts from inside the country aren’t so sure.
Lindner, Germany’s finance minister, has said he’s opposing joint debt for both, political and legal reasons.
“Communitization of risks, liabilities and debt doesn’t contribute to stability and therefore Germany won’t support it,” he told reporters in Brussels last week.
Other funding mechanisms that don’t rely on debt could be faster: like the European Peace Facility, an instrument into which member states directly pay in money.
Bloomberg 27 July 2024
European Peace Facility
To enhance its ability to prevent conflicts, build peace and strengthen international security, the EU has set up a new off-budget fund: the European Peace Facility.
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/european-peace-facility/
"War is peace, ignorance is strength" is a phrase used by George Orwell in his novel "1984".
To limit government debt, the "debt brake" was incorporated into the German Basic Law in 2009.
This measure, introduced in the wake of the financial crisis severely limits government borrowing in a bid to ensure fiscal stability.
The debt brake may be lifted in the event of unforeseeable crises, as the government did during the COVID pandemic.
Since Germany is still facing economic crises in 2024, many are now calling for the debt brake to be relaxed.
If the European project ever unravels it will probably because of a ruling by the venerable Verfassungsgericht.
Each time its interventions become a greater threat. You can stretch the EU treaties and Germany’s Basic Law only so far.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Telegraph 1 April 2021
https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2021/04/with-750bn-recovery-fund-europes.html
Tyska författningsdomstolen stoppar Lissabon-fördraget - Den svenska statstelevisionen vilseleder om detta
https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2009/07/tyska-forfattningsdomstolen-stoppar.html
German Constitutional Court
https://www.nejtillemu.com/vonstauffenberg.htm
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