(...) Rarely has a decision scared politicians as much as the PSPP ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court. In this judgment, the BVerfG stated that the European Central Bank had to submit a proportionality test. The ECJ's proportionality test was objectively arbitrary and therefore, as an ultra vires infringement, not legally binding. This article shows three ways out of this impasse. The ECB can easily provide the reasoning. The Federal Constitutional Court should clearly limit its examination competence and the European Council should specify the principle of individual authorisation and the catalogue of competences with its own rules.

The article is printed on pages 503-505 of the Focus Issue of the PSPP Judgment of the BVerfG of EuZW 12/2020.