ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT
4 October 2012 (*)
(Accelerated procedure)
In Case C‑370/12,
REFERENCE for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Supreme Court (Ireland), made by decision of 31 July 2012, received at the Court on 3 August 2012, in the proceedings
Thomas Pringle
v
Government of Ireland,
Ireland,
Attorney General,
THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT,
on the proposal of K. Lenaerts, Judge‑Rapporteur,
after hearing the Advocate General, J. Kokott,
makes the following
Order
1 This reference for a preliminary ruling concerns, first, the validity of the European Council Decision 2011/199/EU of 25 March 2011 amending Article 136 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union with regard to a stability mechanism for Member States whose currency is the euro (OJ 2011 L 91, p. 1), and, secondly, the interpretation of various provisions of the EU and FEU Treaties in order to enable the referring court to assess whether Ireland, by adopting and ratifying the Treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism done at Brussels on 2 February 2012 (‘the EMS Treaty’), would undertake obligations incompatible with the Treaties on which the European Union is founded.
2 The reference has been made in proceedings brought by Mr Pringle, a member of the Irish Parliament, against the Government of Ireland, Ireland and the Attorney General, seeking a declaration that the amendment of Article 136 TFEU by Article 1 of Decision 2011/199 constitutes an unlawful amendment of that treaty and, further, an injunction preventing Ireland from ratifying, approving or accepting the EMS Treaty.
3 The referring court requested that the Court of Justice apply an accelerated procedure to this case pursuant to Article 23a of the Statute of the Court of Justice and Article 104a of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice.
4 It is apparent from the first paragraph of Article 104a of those Rules of Procedure that, at the request of the national court, the President of the Court may exceptionally decide, on a proposal from the Judge‑Rapporteur and after hearing the Advocate General, to apply an accelerated procedure derogating from the provisions of those Rules of Procedure to a reference for a preliminary ruling, where the circumstances referred to establish that a ruling on the question put to the Court is a matter of exceptional urgency.
5 In support of its request, the referring court observes that the timely ratification by Ireland of the EMS Treaty is of the utmost importance for other members of the European Stability Mechanism and, in particular, for those who are in need of financial assistance.
6 While, in the interim, Ireland and all other Member States which are signatories of the EMS Treaty have ratified that treaty, it is nonetheless apparent from the questions referred to the Court in this case that there is uncertainty as to the validity of that treaty.
7 The use of the accelerated procedure in this case is necessary in order to remove as soon as possible that uncertainty, which adversely affects the objective of the EMS Treaty, namely to maintain the financial stability of the euro area.
8 Accordingly, in the light of the exceptional circumstances of the financial crisis surrounding the conclusion of the EMS Treaty, the request of the referring court that the accelerated procedure be applied to Case C‑370/12 should be granted.
On those grounds, the President of the Court hereby orders:
The request of the Supreme Court (Ireland) that the accelerated procedure provided for in Article 23a of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union and Article 104a of the Rules of Procedure of the Court be applied to Case C‑370/12 is granted.
[Signatures]