An attack from the German heartland

Yesterday, we invited German Professor Markus Kerber to Brussels. He is the initiator of a lawsuit at the German Constitutional Court against the bailouts of Greece and Ireland.

A full write up of the event can be found here. The Professor expressed some profound criticism of the European Central Bank's policy to buy up government bonds on the secundary market - bluntly calling it "illegal" along with the bail-out package itself. He predicted that “the euro will fail, it’s better to face that”.

It is true that we shouldn't underestimate the will of EU leaders to save the euro. But equally, it would be a huge mistake to underestimate the political pressure in countries such as Germany to stick to the rules and the original deal which the German people agreed to, i.e. a hard currency and no bail-outs (via the ECB or the governments) for countries that live beyond their means.

And Professor Kerber is not a lonely voice crying in the desert. In the lawsuit, he is representing a group of 50 notable people, ranging from artists to the grandson of former German Chancellor Adenauer (one of the father figures for European integration). This initiative is coming straight from the German heartland.

Politicians in Europe better take notice.