EU Makes Peace With Germany After Top Court Attacked Bloc’s Law
EU Makes Peace With Germany After Top Court Attacked Bloc’s Law
(Bloomberg) -- The European Union dropped legal action against Germany over a landmark ruling by the nation’s top court that was dubbed by legal scholars as a “declaration of war” on the primacy of EU law.
The European Commission on Thursday said it had closed the case after Germany made formal commitments “clearly recognizing” the authority of the EU’s Court of Justice and that EU law trumps national rules.
The EU kickstarted its case after judges at Germany’s constitutional court accused their EU counterparts of overstepping their powers when they backed the European Central Bank’s controversial quantitative easing policy.
The German ruling sparked an unprecedented counterattack from the EU Court of Justice, which said its entire purpose is to make sure EU law is properly applied across the 27-nation bloc.
The commission on Thursday also closed legal proceedings against Poland in one of a series of cases attacking reforms by the nation’s populist government seen by the EU as an erosion of the rule of law.
The commission said Poland had now changed its rules over the retirement of judges and that “there are no indications that the Supreme Court judges concerned by the contested legislation are still affected by it,” according to a statement.
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