Matching or Clashing? Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg v ECB and the Decision of the German Bundesverfassungsgericht on the Banking Union

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss recent tensions which have emerged between the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the German Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) following the latter’s judgment on the Banking Union. In particular, it argues that the CJEU and the BVerfG do not seem to agree on a basic question of competence in the Banking Union, that is, essentially whether national authorities, when carrying out tasks in relation to ‘less significant’ credit institutions under the SSM Regulation continue to do so on the basis of their pre-existing competences. To explain, it is necessary to consider the decision(s) of the CJEU in Landeskreditbank Baden-Wurttemberg v ECB. It is also necessary to examine the recent judgment of the BVerfG on the Banking Union. The paper argues that the decisions of both courts cannot espace criticism.