Draghi’s Bond-Buying Plan on Trial

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s pledge to do “whatever it takes” with a bond-buying plan to save the euro-area goes on trial before the European Union’s top judges today.

The Court of Justice, the bloc’s highest court, will weigh whether Draghi’s ECB overstepped its powers in 2012 with the mechanism to buy the debt of stressed countries if needed. While Germany’s own top court earlier this year expressed doubts about the plan’s legality, the EU tribunal’s 15-judge panel is unlikely to overturn it, according to legal scholars.

“A ruling that would say the ECB’s Outright Monetary Transactions mechanism isn’t in line with the EU Treaty would be the end of the euro,” said Pierre-Henri Conac, a professor of financial-markets law at the University of Luxembourg. “Politically, they cannot do that. There is no real suspense about the way the ruling will go, but there will be suspense about the actual content of the decision.”

Bloomberg

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.