The ESM and the European Court's Predicament in Pringle

On 27 November 2012, the European Court of Justice (“the Court”) rendered its judgment in the Pringle case. Sitting as a plenum, which is extremely rare, the Court did what had been expected. Just as the Bundesverfassungsgericht (German Federal Constitutional Court or BVerfG ) had done two months earlier, it gave the go-ahead for the euro area's permanent emergency instrument, the European Stability Mechanism (“ESM”). With this decision, the possibility of granting assistance to financially distressed euro area Member States has now been secured for the future.