It's not just economic mines that are being set off in euro-land with Greece threatening to be the first to go broke but also, and perhaps more seriously, a legal landmine has been primed and when that blows the shrapnel will spray everywhere! As A E-P explains in The Telegraph, the advocate-general to the European Court of Justice has given his opinion that the European Central Bank was within the law when a few years back it went in for some (very minor) support for Spanish and Italian debt. This, of course, goes absolutely and directly against the ruling of the German Constitutional Court sitting in Karlsruhe, the highest legal authority in Germany. A few tiny fig leaves were tossed in Germany's direction mostly, perhaps, to spare the 'Kaiserin's' blushes, but the brutal fact is that a direct and unavoidable collision between Germany and Brussels is now imminent.
The 'Kaiserin', a 'ducker 'n' diver' of Olympic capability, cannot now avoid choosing to support or disregard the highest legal court in her land. Mind you, I have no doubt that in 'ze cellars of ze German government' considerable pressure in the form of arm-twisting, or even rubber truncheons, will be applied to the German judges to try and persuade them to back down and let the 'Kaiserin' off the hook. However, from the little I know of them, they guard their independence with vigor, so if they stick to their line that the ruling by the European judges goes against German constitutional law then 'die scheiße am Dampfen' - er, that's 'the shit hits the fan' for all you ignoramuses who haven't mastered the 100-odd languages on Google Translate!
With a dash of the sort of historical 'swottism' that I lack, A E-P sums it up thus:
It is far from clear what will happen when the case goes back to Karlsruhe for a final ruling. The Verfassungsgericht may capitulate, but you never know. In extremis, the court may prohibit German institutions from taking part in bond purchases," said the Frankfurter Allgemeine.
This is the Investiture Contest of our times, echoing the 11th century clash between the German emperor Henry IV and the imperial papacy of Gregory VII over supremacy in Europe.
Gregory chose to challenge the settled dominance of secular princes, angling for an absolutist and unworkable theocracy. He won a Pyrrhic victory when Henry prostrated himself in the snow at Canossa, but only to stir up forces that he could not control.
It was Henry who conquered Rome. It was a deposed Pope Gregory who died in exile.
Send in the panzers, Ma'am, there's precedent for it!
