Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 16 June 2015 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesverfassungsgericht — Germany) — Peter Gauweiler and Others v Deutscher Bundestag
(Case C-62/14) 1
(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Economic and monetary policy — Decisions of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) on a number of technical features regarding the Eurosystem’s outright monetary transactions in secondary sovereign bond markets — Articles 119 TFEU and 127 TFEU — Powers conferred on the ECB and the European System of Central Banks — Monetary policy transmission mechanism — Maintenance of price stability — Proportionality — Article 123 TFEU — Prohibition of monetary financing of Member States in the euro area)
Language of the case: German
Referring court
Bundesverfassungsgericht
Parties to the main proceedings
Complainants/applicant: Peter Gauweiler, Bruno Bandulet, Wilhelm Hankel, Wilhelm Nölling, Albrecht Schachtschneider, Joachim Starbatty, Roman Huber and Others, Johann Heinrich von Stein and Others, Fraktion DIE LINKE im Deutschen Bundestag
Respondent: Deutscher Bundestag
Joined party: Bundesregierung
Operative part of the judgment
Articles 119 TFEU, 123(1) TFEU and 127(1) and (2) TFEU and Articles 17 to 24 of Protocol (No 4) on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank must be interpreted as permitting the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) to adopt a programme for the purchase of government bonds on secondary markets, such as the programme announced in the press release to which reference is made in the minutes of the 340th meeting of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) on 5 and 6 September 2012.
____________1 OJ C 129, 28.4.2014.