BRUSSELS (Reuters) – It took a courtroom of scarlet-robed judges to stimulate Angela Merkel to make one of her boldest relocations in 15 years as German chancellor: propose big money handouts to the European Union’s weaker economies.
FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds a joint video news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Berlin, Germany, Might 18,2020 Kay Nietfeld/Pool by means of REUTERS/File Picture
Merkel was already fretted about the future of the Union after the coronavirus pandemic struck Europe in February, setting off a wave of deaths and crippling lockdowns.
However it was Germany’s own Constitutional Court that tipped her hand, sources stated. Its bombshell ruling on Might 5 challenged the EU’s reliance on European Central Bank (ECB) money-printing to keep its weaker members’ economies afloat – and the EU’s governance.
Till then, Merkel had actually opposed a proposal by French President Emmanuel Macron for a Recovery Fund that would, for the very first time, bind all 27 member specifies to raise debt jointly.
” Initially they were on rather different positions,” said one senior diplomat. “They examined the risk of a split in the EU. Then the Constitutional Court decision came and Merkel … stated: ‘It’s up to us, the federal governments’