● European institutions have given a lukewarm reception to the German constitutional court (BVerfG) ruling on the public sector purchase program (PSPP).
● While ECB President Christine Lagarde claimed the bank was undeterred by the ruling, other statements suggest that some EU decision makers want the ECB to ignore the ruling in the name of the supremacy of EU law.… Read the rest
● Today’s constitutional court ruling still allows the Bundesbank to continue participating in the European Central Bank’s (ECB) public sector purchase program (PSPP) – as long as a new ECB decision is taken within three months.… Read the rest
● The governing council of the European Central Bank (ECB) will convene digitally on 30 April.
● While speculation continues about an expansion of its PEPP bond-buying scheme, yet another German constitutional court ruling on Eurozone crisis fighting is expected for 5 May.… Read the rest
Finance ministers in the Eurogroup reached a deal on a support package to battle the economic effects of the Covid-19 crisis last night. As expected, coronabonds are not part of the agreement.… Read the rest
Concerted stimulus of a significant magnitude is unlikely in the Eurozone for now. Instead, the focus remains on a mix of deliberately lax fiscal rule enforcement and reliance on monetary policy.… Read the rest
Proposals from Finance Minister Olaf Scholz to temporarily suspend the country’s constitutional debt brake have been greeted with the usual excitement that tends to surround speculation about German fiscal expansion. Among those who quickly came out in favor of the idea was European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde.
