Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism | |
---|---|
Type | Intergovernmental agreement |
Signed | 2 February 2012 |
Location | Brussels |
Effective | 27 September 2012 [1] [2] |
Condition | Ratification by signatories whose initial subscriptions represent no less than 90% of the total |
Parties | All Member States of the eurozone (20) |
Depositary | General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union |
Languages | Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Maltese, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish |
Full text | |
Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism (2012) at Wikisource |
The Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism was signed by the member states of the eurozone to found the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), an international organisation located in Luxembourg, to act as a permanent source of financial assistance for member states in financial difficulty, with a maximum lending capacity of €500 billion. It replaced two earlier temporary EU funding programmes: the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM). All new bailouts of eurozone member states will be covered by ESM, while the EFSF and EFSM will continue to handle money transfers and program monitoring for bailouts previously approved for Ireland, Portugal and Greece.
The treaty stipulated that the organization would be established if member states representing 90% of its original capital requirements ratified the founding treaty. [3] This threshold was surpassed with Germany's ratification on 27 September 2012, bringing the treaty into force on that date for the sixteen states which had ratified the agreement. The ESM commenced its operations at a meeting on 8 October 2012. [4] A separate treaty, amending Article 136 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) to authorize the establishment of the ESM under EU law, was planned to enter into force on 1 January 2013. However, the last of the 27 European Union member states to ratify the amendment, the Czech Republic, did not do so until 23 April 2013, resulting in its entry into force on 1 May 2013. [5] In June 2015, an updated EMU reform plan was released which envisaged that in the medium-term (between July 2017 and 2025) the ESM should be transposed from being an intergovernmental agreement to become fully integrated into the EU law framework applying to all eurozone member states, so that the ESM can be governed more smoothly by the EU institutions - under the competence provided for by the amended article 136 of the TFEU. [6]
Following the onset of the European sovereign debt crisis, there was a drive to reform the functioning of the eurozone in the event of a crisis. This led to the creation, amongst other things, of loan (pejoratively called "bailout" in the media) mechanisms: the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) for eurozone member states and the European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM) for all EU member states. These, together with the International Monetary Fund, would lend money to EU states in trouble, in the same way that the European Central Bank can lend money to European banks. However, the EFSF was only intended to be a temporary measure, in part due to the lack of a legal basis in the EU treaties.
In particular, EFSM funding was granted under Article 122 of the TFEU, which stipulates that only states facing "severe difficulties caused by natural disasters or exceptional occurrences beyond its control" were eligible. Since the recipient governments had played a role in causing their financial distress, it was unclear whether this clause was satisfied. As well, there was an argument that the EFSF, which was established as an intergovernmental organization outside the framework of EU law, was incompatible with the "no bailout" provisions of Article 125. [7]
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In order to resolve these issue, the German government felt a treaty amendment was necessary. After the difficulties ratifying the Treaty of Lisbon, many states opposed reopening the treaties and the British government opposed changes affecting the United Kingdom. [8] [9] However, after winning the support of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, [10] the European Council agreed to draft a new treaty in October 2010 that would be a minimal amendment to give the proposed permanent lending mechanism, which would subsequently be negotiated as an intergovernmental treaty outside of the EU framework, legitimacy under EU law. [11] [12] The two line amendment to Article 136 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), [13] which was approved by the European Council on 16 December 2010, reads:
The member states whose currency is the euro may establish a stability mechanism to be activated if indispensable to safeguard the stability of the euro area as a whole. The granting of any required financial assistance under the mechanism will be made subject to strict conditionality.
Due to the intergovernmental nature of the permanent lending mechanism, which was named the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the simplified treaty revision procedure could be used for the TFEU amendment as the EU's powers were not being increased. [7] However, the amendment would not fulfill the German demand that the removal of voting rights be a possible sanction, as that would require a deeper treaty amendment. The treaty was designed so there would be no need for referendums, allowing for a speedy ratification process, with the aim to have it come into force in July 2012. [3]
In March 2011, the European Parliament approved the treaty amendment after receiving assurances that the European Commission, rather than EU states, would play 'a central role' in running the ESM, despite wishing it had been more involved earlier, [14] [15] and it was signed by all 27 EU member states on 25 March 2011.
A separate treaty among eurozone states, named the Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism, was also agreed to which established the ESM and set out the details of how it would operate. [16] Formally, two treaties with this name were signed: one on 11 July 2011 and one on 2 February 2012. After the first turned out to be not substantial enough the second version was produced to "make it more effective". [17] The ESM was designed to be fully compatible with existing EU law, and the European Court of Justice ruled that "the right of a Member State to conclude and ratify the ESM Treaty is not subject to the entry into force" of the TFEU amendment. [18] The 2012 version was signed by all 17 eurozone members on 2 February 2012, and was planned to enter force by mid-2012, when the EFSF and EFSM were set to expire. The treaty was concluded exclusively by eurozone states in part because the UK refused to participate in any fiscal integration. [19] [20] Further amendments may follow once the final shape of the eurozone's economic governance is decided.
An amendment to the ESM Treaty was signed on 27 January 2021. [21] As of February 2024 it had been ratified by all ESM member states except Italy, whose parliament rejected ratification in December 2023 and imposed a moratorium on reconsidering the decision for 6 months, preventing the amendment's entry into force. [22]
The treaty stipulated that it would enter into force once member states representing 90% of its original capital requirements ratified the founding treaty according to their respective constitutional requirements. [3] This threshold was surpassed with Germany's ratification on 27 September 2012, bringing the treaty into force on that date for the 16 states which had ratified the agreement. [2] Estonia, the remaining eurozone state which had committed only 0.19% of the capital, completed their ratification on 3 October 2012. The ESM commenced its operations at a meeting on 8 October 2012. [4] The TFEU amendment came into force on 1 May 2013, after the Czech Republic became the last member states to ratify the agreement. [5]
According to the text of the treaty, the ESM is open to accession by any EU member state once their derogation from using the euro has been lifted by the Council of the European Union. New members must be approved by the ESM's Board of Governors, after which they would need to ratify to the Treaty Establishing the ESM. [23] After Latvia's adoption of the euro on 1 January 2014 was given final approval by the Economic and Financial Affairs Council on 9 July, [24] [25] the ESM Board of Governors approved Latvia's membership application in October 2013. [26] They became the first state to accede to the ESM on 21 February 2014 and joined on 13 March 2014. Lithuania adopted the euro on 1 January 2015, and acceded to the ESM on 14 January 2015. They became a member on 3 February 2015. [2]
State | Percent of ESM contributions [27] | Signed | Conclusion date | Institution | Majority needed [28] [29] | AB | Deposited [2] | Ref. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Austria | 2.76% | Yes | 4 Jul 2012 | National Council | 50% | 126 | 53 | 0 | 30 Jul 2012 | [30] |
6 Jul 2012 | Federal Council | 50% | 45 | 10 | 0 | [31] | ||||
17 Jul 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [32] | ||||||
Belgium | 3.45% | Yes | 7 Jun 2012 | Senate | 50% | 46 | 4 | 14 | 26 Jun 2012 | [33] |
14 Jun 2012 | Chamber of Representatives | 50% | 90 | 14 | 24 | [34] | ||||
20 Jun 2012 | Royal Assent | - | Granted | [35] | ||||||
Croatia | 0.00% | No | 8 Feb 2023 | Parliament | 50% | 124 | 0 | 5 | 2 Mar 2023 | [36] |
10 Feb 2023 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [37] | ||||||
Cyprus | 0.19% | Yes | 31 May 2012 | House of Representatives | 50% | 48 | 0 | 0 | 28 Jun 2012 | [38] |
15 Jun 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [39] | ||||||
Estonia | 0.18% | Yes | 30 Aug 2012 | Riigikogu | 50% | 59 | 34 | 6 | 3 Oct 2012 | [40] |
11 Sep 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [41] | ||||||
Finland | 1.79% | Yes | 21 Jun 2012 | Parliament | 50% | 104 | 71 | 24 | 29 Jun 2012 | [42] |
29 Jun 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [43] [44] | ||||||
France | 20.25% | Yes | 21 Feb 2012 | National Assembly | 50% | 256 | 44 | 131 | 2 Apr 2012 | [45] |
28 Feb 2012 | Senate | 50% | 169 | 35 | 138 | [46] | ||||
7 Mar 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [47] | ||||||
Germany | 26.96% | Yes | 29 Jun 2012 | Bundestag | 66.7% | 493 | 106 | 5 | 27 Sep 2012 | [48] |
29 Jun 2012 | Bundesrat | 66.7% | 65 | 0 | 4 | [49] | ||||
13 Sep 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [50] | ||||||
Greece | 2.80% | Yes | 28 Mar 2012 | Parliament | 50% | 194 | 59 | 0 | 10 May 2012 | [51] [52] |
Ireland | 1.58% | Yes | 20 Jun 2012 | Dáil Éireann | 50% | 114 | 22 | 0 | 1 Aug 2012 | [53] |
27 Jun 2012 | Seanad Éireann | 50% | 37 | 3 | 0 | [54] | ||||
3 Jul 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [55] | ||||||
Italy | 17.79% | Yes | 12 Jul 2012 | Senate | 50% | 191 | 21 | 15 | 14 Sep 2012 | [56] |
19 Jul 2012 | Chamber of Deputies | 50% | 380 | 59 | 36 | [57] | ||||
23 Jul 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [58] | ||||||
Latvia | 0.27% | No | 30 Jan 2014 | Parliament | 50% | 56 | 0 | 25 | 21 Feb 2014 | [59] [60] [61] [62] [63] |
10 Feb 2014 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [64] | ||||||
Lithuania | 0.41% | No | 18 Dec 2014 | Seimas | 50% [65] | 82 | 1 | 1 | 14 Jan 2015 | [66] |
18 Dec 2014 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [67] | ||||||
Luxembourg | 0.25% | Yes | 26 Jun 2012 | Chamber of Deputies | 66.7% | 49 | 5 | 0 | 31 Jul 2012 | [68] [69] |
3 Jul 2012 | Royal Assent | - | Granted | [70] [71] | ||||||
Malta | 0.07% | Yes | 6 Jul 2012 | House of Representatives | 50% | 25 | 0 | 0 | 19 Jul 2012 | [72] |
Netherlands | 5.68% | Yes | 24 May 2012 | House of Representatives | 50% | 100 | 47 | 0 | 13 Jul 2012 | [73] [74] |
3 Jul 2012 | Senate | 50% | 50 | 23 | 0 | [75] [76] | ||||
5 Jul 2012 | Royal Assent | - | Granted | [77] | ||||||
Portugal | 2.49% | Yes | 13 Apr 2012 | Assembly of the Republic | 50% | 204 | 24 | 2 | 4 Jul 2012 | [78] |
19 Jun 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [79] | ||||||
Slovakia | 0.82% | Yes | 22 Jun 2012 | National Council | 60% (absolute) min 90 votes | 118 | 20 | 5 | 29 Jun 2012 | [80] |
9 Jul 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [81] | ||||||
Slovenia | 0.42% | Yes | 19 Apr 2012 | National Assembly | 50% | 74 | 0 | 1 | 30 May 2012 | [82] |
30 Apr 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [83] | ||||||
Spain | 11.82% | Yes | 17 May 2012 | Congress of Deputies | 50% (absolute) min 176 votes | 292 | 17 | 7 | 2 Jul 2012 | [84] |
6 Jun 2012 | Senate | 50% (absolute) min 134 votes | 237 | 1 | 0 | [85] | ||||
21 Jun 2012 | Royal Assent | - | Granted | [86] |
= States which acceded to the ESM |
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union Article 136 amendment | |
---|---|
Signed | 25 March 2011 |
Location | Brussels |
Effective | 1 May 2013 [5] |
Condition | Ratification by all European Union member states |
Parties | All Member States of the European Union (27) |
Depositary | General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union |
Full text at Wikisource | |
Signatory | Conclusion date | Institution | Majority needed [28] [29] | AB | Deposited [5] | Ref. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Austria | 6 Jul 2012 | Federal Council | 66.7% | 45 | 10 | 30 Jul 2012 | [87] | |
4 Jul 2012 | National Council | 66.7% | 125 | 53 | [87] | |||
17 Jul 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [28] | ||||
Belgium | 10 May 2012 | Senate | 50% | 54 | 4 | 2 | 16 Jul 2012 | [88] |
14 Jun 2012 | Chamber of Representatives | 50% | 110 | 14 | 2 | [88] | ||
9 Jul 2012 | Royal Assent | - | Granted | [88] | ||||
11 Jan 2012 | Walloon Parliament (regional) | 50% | 70 | 0 | 0 | [89] | ||
19 Mar 2012 | German-speaking Community | 50% | 21 | 2 | 1 | [90] | ||
20 Dec 2011 | French Community | 50% | 82 | 0 | 0 | [91] | ||
2 Mar 2012 | Brussels Regional Parliament | 50% | 73 | 2 | 0 | [92] | ||
30 March 2012 | CCC United Assembly | 50% | 73 | 2 | 1 | [93] | ||
27 Jun 2012 | Flemish Parliament (regional) (community matters) | 50% | 74 | 17 | 5 | [94] | ||
50% | 78 | 17 | 6 | [94] | ||||
Bulgaria | 13 Jul 2012 | National Assembly | 50% | 84 | 2 | 14 | 6 Aug 2012 | [95] |
23 Jul 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [96] | ||||
Cyprus | 30 May 2012 | House of Representatives | 50% | 3 Jul 2012 | [29] | |||
22 Jun 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [28] | ||||
Czech Republic | 25 Apr 2012 | Senate | 60% (absolute) [97] min 49 votes | 49 | 9 | 4 | 23 Apr 2013 | [98] |
5 Jun 2012 | Chamber of Deputies | 60% (absolute) [97] min 120 votes | 140 | 18 | 31 | [99] | ||
3 Apr 2013 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [100] | ||||
Denmark | 23 Feb 2012 | Folketing | 50% | 82 | 21 | 5 | 7 May 2012 | [101] |
21 Mar 2012 | Royal Assent | - | Granted | [102] | ||||
Estonia | 8 Aug 2012 | Riigikogu | 50% | 86 | 0 | 2 | 7 Sep 2012 | [103] |
14 Aug 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [104] | ||||
Finland | 9 May 2012 | Parliament | 50% | 120 | 33 | 0 | 29 May 2012 | [105] |
25 May 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [28] | ||||
France | 28 Feb 2012 | Senate | 50% | 168 | 27 | 138 | 2 Apr 2012 | [106] |
21 Feb 2012 | National Assembly | 50% | 256 | 44 | 131 | [107] | ||
7 Mar 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [108] | ||||
Germany | 29 Jun 2012 | Bundesrat | 66.7% | 65 | 0 | 4 | 27 Sep 2012 | [29] [109] |
29 Jun 2012 | Bundestag | 66.7% | 504 | 97 | 1 | [29] [110] | ||
13 Sep 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [48] | ||||
Greece | 28 Mar 2012 | Parliament | 50% | 194 | 59 | 0 | 17 Apr 2012 | [51] |
Hungary | 27 Feb 2012 | National Assembly | 66.7% | 320 | 40 | 0 | 19 Apr 2012 | [111] |
5 Mar 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [111] | ||||
Ireland | 27 Jun 2012 | Senate | 50% | Passed | 1 Aug 2012 | [112] | ||
19 Jun 2012 | Dáil | 50% | Passed | [113] | ||||
3 Jul 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [114] | ||||
Italy | 12 Jul 2012 | Senate | 50% | 230 | 22 | 14 | 25 Sep 2012 | [28] |
19 Jul 2012 | Chamber of Deputies | 50% | 380 | 59 | 36 | [28] | ||
23 Jul 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [58] | ||||
Latvia | 19 Apr 2012 | Parliament | 50% | 79 | 0 | 0 | 24 May 2012 | [115] |
9 May 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [115] | ||||
Lithuania | 12 Jun 2012 | Seimas | 50% min 57 votes | 81 | 0 | 8 | 6 Jul 2012 | [116] |
21 Jun 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [28] | ||||
Luxembourg | 26 Jun 2012 | Chamber of Deputies | 66.7% | 48 | 5 | 0 | 24 Jul 2012 | [117] [118] |
3 Jul 2012 | Royal Assent | - | Granted | [117] [70] | ||||
Malta | 2 Oct 2012 | House of Representatives | 50% | Passed | 9 Oct 2012 | [119] [120] | ||
Netherlands | 3 Jul 2012 | Senate | 50% | 50 | 23 | 0 | 20 Sep 2012 | [75] |
24 May 2012 | House of Representatives | 50% | 100 | 46 | 0 | [121] | ||
5 Jul 2012 | Royal Assent | - | Granted | [122] | ||||
Poland | 30 May 2012 | Senate | 50% | 55 | 30 | 0 | 13 Nov 2012 | [123] |
11 May 2012 | Sejm | 50% | 294 | 155 | 1 | [124] [125] | ||
26 Jun 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [125] [126] | ||||
Portugal | 9 Dec 2011 | Assembly | 50% | 6 Feb 2012 | [28] | |||
2 Feb 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [28] | ||||
Romania | 12 Jun 2012 | Senate | 66.7% (absolute) [127] [128] min 306 votes | 307 (67.0%) | 1 | 0 | 11 Jul 2012 | [129] |
House of Representatives | ||||||||
19 Jun 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [130] | ||||
Slovakia | 15 May 2012 | National Council | 60% (absolute) min 90 votes | 130 | 11 | 1 | 13 Jun 2012 | [29] |
9 Jul 2012 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [81] | ||||
Slovenia | 15 Jul 2011 | National Assembly | 50% | 80 | 0 | 3 | 17 Oct 2011 | [131] [132] |
25 Jul 2011 | Presidential Assent | - | Granted | [133] | ||||
Spain | 6 Jun 2012 | Senate | 50% (absolute) min 134 votes | 234 | 1 | 0 | 15 Jun 2012 | [85] |
17 May 2012 | Congress of Deputies | 50% (absolute) min 176 votes | 292 | 17 | 7 | [84] | ||
Royal Assent | - | Granted | ||||||
Sweden | 30 May 2012 | Riksdagen | 50% | 295 | 19 | 0 | 15 Jun 2012 | [134] |
United Kingdom | 10 Sep 2012 | House of Commons | 50% | Passed | 12 Nov 2012 | [135] | ||
4 Jul 2012 | House of Lords | 50% | Passed | [135] | ||||
31 Oct 2012 | Royal Assent | - | Granted | [135] |
The opposition parties FPÖ, BZÖ and the Green Party threatened to launch a constitutional challenge against the European Fiscal Compact, with the FPÖ also intending to challenge the ESM. [136] The Freedom Party of Carinthia, the largest party in the state assembly of Carinthia, also announced their intention to challenge Austria's ratification of the ESM. [137] No cases can be launched prior to the publication of the treaties in Austria's official gazette, which isn't expected until their entry into force. [137] Constitutional Court President Gerhart Holzinger stated that the court could take three to six months to deliver a judgement, [138] and that it "cannot abolish the ESM pact but we would only establish that the agreement of this pact was unconstitutional". If the court found the ratification unconstitutional, Holzinger stated that the government would have to "either defy the constitution by some means or other, or to negotiate after the fact with the other parties to the pact". [137]
In October 2012, Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of FPÖ, officially filed an individual constitutional challenge against the ESM, [139] and the Government of Carinthia voted in favour of launching their own case. [140] The Austrian Constitutional Court ruled on 25 February 2013 that Strache's petition was inadmissible on procedural grounds, [141] and began deliberations on the Carinthian complaint on 6 March with a public hearing. [142] On 3 April 2013 the court rejected the case, which argued that the treaty obliged Austria to make unlimited payments into the ESM, and ruled that the treaty was not unconstitutional. [143]
The TFEU amendment was passed by the Czech Senate on 25 April 2012 and the Chamber of Deputies on 5 June 2012. On 6 December the Senate urged then President Václav Klaus to give his assent, [144] arguing that he is constitutionally obliged to do so "without undue delay" after both houses have given their approval. However, Klaus replied the next day by stating "I will never sign such a monstrous treaty". [145] In March 2013 the Czech Senate voted to impeach Klaus for high treason, in part due to his refusal to sign the TFEU amendment, [146] though the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic rejected the charges on procedural grounds since the motion was passed only 3 days prior to Klaus being replaced as president by Miloš Zeman, the winner of the January presidential election which Klaus was term limited from running in. [147] [148] Zeman, who is considered to be "pro-EU", [149] announced shortly after taking office that he would "respect parliament’s decision" [150] and gave his assent to the TFEU amendment during President of the European Commission Jose Barroso's visit to the Czech Republic on 3 April. [100] [151] [152]
The Estonian Chancellor of Justice concluded that Article 4(4) of the ESM treaty may violate the Constitution of Estonia and could not be ratified by Parliament in its present form. [153] The Chancellor demanded that the Government of Estonia re-open negotiations concerning the treaty. The matter was reviewed by the Supreme Court of Estonia and a decision was rendered on 12 July 2012. [154] [155] [156] With a narrow 10–9 vote, the Court dismissed the application of the Chancellor and ruled that although Article 4(4) restricts the financial competence of the Estonian parliament, the principle of rule of law, and the sovereignty of Estonia, it does not breach the Constitution. The Court ruled that it is up to Parliament to decide whether Estonia accedes to the ESM. [157]
A number of citizens, several members of parliament, and the Die Linke party in the Bundestag challenged the constitutionality of the ESM and petitioned the Constitutional Court to issue a preliminary injunction prohibiting President Joachim Gauck from signing the treaty. The President declared that he would postpone his signature until after the Court had ruled on the injunction. If the injunction was rejected, the President would sign the treaty, while if the Court granted the injunction the merits of the case would be decided while ratification remained on hold. If the Court ultimately decided that the treaty was unconstitutional, the treaty could not go into force in its current form. [158] The Court heard oral arguments on 10 July 2012. [159] A group of German academics filed an appeal to the Court requesting that the decision be delayed until the ECJ had issued a verdict on the legality of the treaty in the case referred to it by the Irish Supreme Court. While this could have delayed ratification by months, a spokesman for the court stated that "our understanding is that the court’s decision will go ahead". [160] After the European Central Bank announced their intention to buy unlimited amounts of government bonds from troubled ESM states, another court challenge was launched requesting that ratification stop until this decision was reversed. [161] While the court quickly rejected this case on procedural grounds, it didn't rule out the possibility that the case could be refiled. [162]
On 12 September the Court refused to grant an injunction, but imposed several conditions for ratification. [163] [164] The argument that all future ESM bailouts should be individually approved by the German parliament was confirmed by the court. [165] However, the court found that the argument that the treaty might permit the ESM to borrow funds directly from the ECB had no merit, as this was incompatible with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. [166] Finally, the court stipulated that Germany must attach an interpretative declaration to their instrument of ratification of the treaty declaring that their liability is limited to the €190 billion committed in the treaty unless an increase is approved by the German parliament, and that the confidentiality of information by the ESM will not prevent the German parliament from being informed on the workings of the ESM. [166] Furthermore, the court stated that "Germany must express that it does not wish to be bound by the ESM Treaty in its entirety, if the reservations made by it should prove to be ineffective." [166] On 27 September 2012, the eurozone countries adopted a joint interpretative declaration of the ESM treaty formalizing the "German interpretation". [167] [4] After a German court rejected a last minute appeal claiming that this declaration failed to satisfy the imposed requirements, Germany completed its ratification of the treaty. [168] The court heard oral arguments on the merits of the case and the ECB's bond buying OMT program for countries exiting ESM financial support programs on 11–12 June 2013, [169] [170] [171] [172] with a final decision originally expected in the fall of 2013 but later pushed back to 2014. [173] In early February 2014 the court announced that they had referred the question of the OMT program to the European Court of Justice, [172] [174] and on 18 March the court released their decision which found that all the complaints against the ESM treaty were either inadmissible or unfounded. [175] [176] [177]
Thomas Pringle, an independent member of the Oireachtas, challenged the legality of the ESM treaty under both Irish and European Union law. On 9 July 2012, High Court judge Mary Laffoy decided that the ESM treaty violated neither EU nor Irish law. However, she asked the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling on the legality of ratification of the ESM treaty prior to the entry into force of the TFEU amendment, which was planned for 1 January 2013 and intended to provide the intergovernmental ESM treaty with a legal basis within EU law. [178] Pringle appealed the High Court decision to the Supreme Court. The appeal began on 24 July 2012, [179] and on 31 July the court ruled that the ESM treaty did not involve a transfer of sovereignty such that it would require amending the constitution [180] (which is only possible if approved by a referendum), and on those grounds rejected Pringle's application for an injunction to prevent the government from ratifying the ESM Treaty. However, the Irish Supreme Court referred three questions of EU law to the European Court of Justice (ECJ): [181] [182]
The Irish Supreme Court requested that the case be heard urgently, and the ECJ agreed on 4 October to handle the case under an accelerated procedure, [183] with a one-day hearing scheduled for 23 October 2012. [184] [185] Pringle stated that if he won the case, all ESM members would have to cease their membership and terminate the ESM as an intergovernmental organisation. [186] However, on 27 November 2012 the ECJ delivered its judgement, answering all the questions submitted to it in an affirmative manner, and thus rejected Pringle's challenge. [18] The ECJ found that the TFEU amendment did not expand the competence of the EU, and thus the use of the simplified treaty amendment procedure was legal. In addition, the ruling stated that the ESM treaty did not overrule any existing EU law and thus member states were permitted to join and enact the ESM treaty independent of whether the TFEU amendment had been ratified. It also highlighted that the ESM treaty basically replaced the intergovernmental temporary EFSF and the EU-law enacted EFSM, and that it did not limit the competence of the EU to introduce a similar support mechanism in the future. [18]
The opposition to the government submitted a draft bill on 11 January 2012 outlining that a constitutional ratification procedure with the approval of a qualified majority of 2/3 of members of the Sejm, as is required for the ratification of international treaties which transfer political power to an international body, should be utilized for the TFEU amendment. This proposal was rejected on 10 May 2012 by a vote in Sejm, [187] [188] and the treaty was subsequently approved by a simple majority on 11 May 2012 with a vote of 63.9% in favour. [125] Members of the opposition Law and Justice party filed a complaint with the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland on 26 July 2012, requesting that the bill ratifying the treaty be declared illegal as it had not been passed by a qualified majority. [189] Proceedings of the case began on 1 August 2012. [190] The Sejm published their opinion on the case on 11 February 2013, which called on the Constitutional Tribunal to declare that the bill was not incompatible with the constitution and requested that the proceedings before the Tribunal be cancelled. [191] After a hearing on 26 June 2013, the Tribunal ruled that the ratification procedure which was utilized did not violate the constitution. [192]
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The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is one of two treaties forming the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU), the other being the Treaty on European Union (TEU). It was previously known as the Treaty Establishing the European Community (TEC).
In the European Union (EU), enhanced cooperation is a procedure where a minimum of nine EU member states are allowed to establish advanced integration or cooperation in an area within EU structures but without the other member states being involved. As of October 2017, this procedure is being used in the fields of the Schengen acquis, divorce law, patents, property regimes of international couples, and European Public Prosecutor and is approved for the field of a financial transaction tax.
Peter Gauweiler is a German lawyer and politician of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) who served as a member of the German Bundestag from 2002 to 2015, representing the Munich South district. From 2013 until 2015, he also served as deputy leader of the CSU, under the leadership of chairman Horst Seehofer. He resigned his parliamentary seat and leadership post in 2015 at age 65.
The European debt crisis, often also referred to as the eurozone crisis or the European sovereign debt crisis, was a multi-year debt crisis that took place in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until the mid to late 2010s. Several eurozone member states were unable to repay or refinance their government debt or to bail out over-indebted banks under their national supervision without the assistance of third parties like other eurozone countries, the European Central Bank (ECB), or the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) is a special purpose vehicle financed by members of the eurozone to address the European sovereign-debt crisis. It was agreed by the Council of the European Union on 9 May 2010, with the objective of preserving financial stability in Europe by providing financial assistance to eurozone states in economic difficulty. The Facility's headquarters are in Luxembourg City, as are those of the European Stability Mechanism. Treasury management services and administrative support are provided to the Facility by the European Investment Bank through a service level contract. Since the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, the activities of the EFSF are carried out by the ESM.
The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is an intergovernmental organization located in Luxembourg City, which operates under public international law for all eurozone member states having ratified a special ESM intergovernmental treaty. It was established on 27 September 2012 as a permanent firewall for the eurozone, to safeguard and provide instant access to financial assistance programmes for member states of the eurozone in financial difficulty, with a maximum lending capacity of €500 billion. It has replaced two earlier temporary EU funding programmes: the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM).
The Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union; also referred to as TSCG, or more plainly the Fiscal Stability Treaty is an intergovernmental treaty introduced as a new stricter version of the Stability and Growth Pact, signed on 2 March 2012 by all member states of the European Union (EU), except the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. The treaty entered into force on 1 January 2013 for the 16 states which completed ratification prior to this date. As of 3 April 2019, it had been ratified and entered into force for all 25 signatories plus Croatia, which acceded to the EU in July 2013, and the Czech Republic.
Within the framework of EU economic governance, Sixpack describes a set of European legislative measures to reform the Stability and Growth Pact and introduces greater macroeconomic surveillance, in response to the European debt crisis of 2009. These measures were bundled into a "six pack" of regulations, introduced in September 2010 in two versions respectively by the European Commission and a European Council task force. In March 2011, the ECOFIN council reached a preliminary agreement for the content of the Sixpack with the commission, and negotiations for endorsement by the European Parliament then started. Ultimately it entered into force 13 December 2011, after one year of preceding negotiations. The six regulations aim at strengthening the procedures to reduce public deficits and address macroeconomic imbalances.
Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) is a program of the European Central Bank under which the bank makes purchases in secondary, sovereign bond markets, under certain conditions, of bonds issued by Eurozone member-states. The program was presented by its supporters as a principal manifestation of Mario Draghi's commitment to do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro.
The eurozone crisis is an ongoing financial crisis that has made it difficult or impossible for some countries in the euro area to repay or re-finance their government debt without the assistance of third parties.
The Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) is one of the pillars of the European Union's banking union. The Single Resolution Mechanism entered into force on 19 August 2014 and is directly responsible for the resolution of the entities and groups directly supervised by the European Central Bank as well as other cross-border groups. The centralised decision making is built around the Single Resolution Board (SRB) consisting of a chair, a Vice Chair, four permanent members, and the relevant national resolution authorities.
The European banking union refers to the transfer of responsibility for banking policy from the member state-level to the union-wide level in several EU member states, initiated in 2012 as a response to the 2009 Eurozone crisis. The motivation for the banking union was the fragility of numerous banks in the Eurozone, and the identification of a vicious circle between credit conditions for these banks and the sovereign credit of their respective home countries. In several countries, private debts arising from a property bubble were transferred to the respective sovereign as a result of banking system bailouts and government responses to slowing economies post-bubble. Conversely, weakness in sovereign credit resulted in deterioration of the balance sheet position of the banking sector, not least because of high domestic sovereign exposures of the banks.
The Treaties of the European Union are a set of international treaties between the European Union (EU) member states which sets out the EU's constitutional basis. They establish the various EU institutions together with their remit, procedures and objectives. The EU can only act within the competences granted to it through these treaties and amendment to the treaties requires the agreement and ratification of every single signatory.
The Troika is a term used to refer to the single decision group created by three entities, the European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It was formed due to the European debt crisis as an ad hoc authority with a mandate to manage the bailouts of Cyprus, Greece, Ireland and Portugal, in the aftermath of their prospective insolvency caused by the world financial crisis of 2007–2008.
Withdrawal from the Eurozone denotes the process whereby a Eurozone member-state, whether voluntarily or forcibly, stops using the euro as its national currency and leaves the Eurozone.
Pringle v Government of Ireland (2012) C‑370/12 is a European Union law case, which held the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) was lawful.