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German Constitutional Court Okays ESM, But With Conditions
13 September 2012
The constitutional court of Germany this morning threw out the requests for injunctions to prevent the ESM from going into effect until the judges rule on the main legal complaints (some time in Spring/Summer 2013), including the petition by plaintiff Peter Gauweiler that the court not rule before it has looked into the ECB’s new bailout plan, which changes the entire bailout agenda. The court ducked the ECB issue, saying that it would deal with it anyway in its main ruling — that gives a green light to the ECB to go for massive money-printing. The court did not touch the substance of the ESM as such, but only posed certain limited conditions that have to be met before German President Joachim Gauck can affix his signature to the ratifying document for the ESM. These conditions — reaffirming budgetary and consultation rights of the German Parliament, the right of Germany to revoke decisions of the ESM that are taken against the will of the German people — may cause delays for the ESM, such that it may not go into effect in time for the envisaged first session of the ESM governors council on Oct. 8, but the ECB has gotten the go-ahead by the court to step in for the time being, where the ESM cannot act yet. The court thereby failed to raise a firewall against hyperinflationary decisions. As for the rights of the parliament, these are on paper, but not used by the Bundestag in its present shape, which features an 85% majority for the ESM. The Bundestag could raise hell and slow down the implementation of the mega-bailout fund significantly, but it will not do that, because only a tiny minority is courageous enough to voice its dissent, at present. Ironically, the court’s ruling contains a hint as to how Germany could walk away from the risks and hyperinflationary liabilities: namely, by exiting from the Lisbon Treaty Europe and from the euro agreement. But the court, which with respect to the other conditions, recommended that the government write amendments to the ratification documents on the ESM, but did not recommend that the same be done with respect to the rights to exit. The court thereby left a gray zone as to what should be done to really prevent hyperinflation and economic-political disaster, in a situation characterized by European governments and elites obsessively walking into just these disasters like lemmings. The crucial role of the LaRouche movement as the catalyst of resistance and real alternatives to this policy, has never been clearer, with and after this court ruling. |