Abstract
On 5 May, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (GCC) issued a landmark judgement capable of having a major impact on the shape of the European Economic and Monetary Union (2 BvR 859/15). The judgment centres on the ‘government bond purchase programme’, known as ‘Quantitative Easing’ (QE), launched by the European Central Bank (ECB) to provide the Member States of the Eurozone with liquidity injection. The GCC qualifies the QE measures as an ultra vires act. At the same time, it rules that QE does not finance the States and therefore complies with the Treaty prohibition against the monetisation of national public debt (art. 123 TFEU).