Abstract
This article attempts to highlight the difference between the form and the substance of the Gauweiler judgment on the OMT programme undertaken by the European Central Bank. While the case is based upon a formal interpretation, reference to the substantive concept of independence of central banks is analyzed only indirectly by the Court of Justice. The author tries to reconstruct the essence of the Court’s reasoning by resorting to the doctrinal concept of central bank independence, the previous case law of the Court of Justice concerning central bank independence, the judgment of the German Constitutional Court, the Opinion of the Advocate General, and the case law of the US Supreme Court, for comparative purposes.