German Constitutional Court objects to ECB government bond purchases
Germany’s Constitutional Court largely upheld several complaints against the European Central Bank’s purchase of government bonds under a programme designed to boost the economy and inflation since 2015.
This was the result of years of debate over the role of the eurozone central bank, with judges announcing their ruling in the city of Karlsruhe on Tuesday.
It does not cover current ECB aid issued in response to the coronavirus crisis.
Top German judges raised concerns back in 2017 that one part of the bond-buying programme, the Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP), could engage in economic policy and government financing, both of which the ECB is prohibited from doing.
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The programme was used to buy government bonds and other securities worth approximately 2.6 trillion euros (2.9 trillion dollars) between March 2015 and the end of 2018 with the aim of boosting the economy. Over 2.1 trillion euros in purchases were made as part of the PSPP. (dpa)
