THE EUROPEAN DEBT CRISIS AND EUROPEAN UNION LA W MATTHIAS RUFFERT * 1. Introdu ctio n: Eur opean leg al p rinciples at stake It was only a few w eeks after the Lisbon Treaty had entered into force that the first signs of the current debt crisis became apparent. Before the first months of 2010, only some financial market experts were aware that the public debt situation of a group of EU Member States – sometimes designated as “p er iphe ral”, and of ten gro uped unde r a most po lemi c and pe jorati ve ep it het – had aggravated in a way that is generally known by now. Amongst these ex pert s were cert ain ly fe w , if any Eur opean lawyers. 1 Itisno t ne ce ssary to ta ke an extremely pessimistic view to state that much of the reform effort that culminated in the difficult but finally successful ratification of the Lisbon Treaty or even European integration in general are at stake today . At least, we are faced with a true and severe European Union crisis with all its typical signs: a general debate about European integration, a diminished acceptance in the ge ne ral pu bl ic, a streng thening of well-kno wn “euro-sc ep tical” positions (for instance the usual plaintiffs in the German Bundesverfassung sgericht 2 or – worse – new populist parties), tendencies of re-nationalization even in breach of EU law, and a lack of political leadership beyon d national borders. Apparently , it is by no means an exaggeration to * Dr . iur., Pro fessor of Public La w , European La w and Public Int ernational La w, Friedrich-Schille r-Univ ersity Jena, Germany, holder of a Jean Monnet Chair focusing on “The administrative law of the integrated European administration”, and member of the Ph.D. programme “Foundations of global financial markets – Stability and change” (Halle and Jena; <www.gfinm.de> (last visited 4 Oct. 2011)). I am grateful to my assistants Dr. Angela Schwerdtfeger, Carolin Damm and Ulrike Pollin for their valuable linguistic support and for fruitful discussion on the subject. Events after 4 Oct. 2011 could only marginaIly be included. 1. But see the warning facts repo rted by Sny der, “EMU-integratio n and differe ntiat ion: Me taph or fo r Euro pe an Un ion” , in Cr aig and De Bú rca (Eds.), The Ev ol ut ion of EU Law , 2 nd ed. (OUP, 2011), p. 713. 2. See th e judg ment of 7 Se pt . 2011, 2 BvR 98 7, 1099 an d 1485 /10, a va il able at <www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/entscheidungen/rs2 0110907_2bv r098710.html>; press rel ease in English: <www .bu nde sv erf ass ung sgeric ht. de/ pre sse mit tei lungen /b vg1 1- 055en.html> (last visited 4 Oct. 2011). Cf. on the judgment, Ruffert, “Die europäische Schul denkr ise vor dem Bund esve rfass ungsg erich t”, (2011 ) EuR , forthco min g, and, pri or to the judgment, Thym, “Euro-Rettungsschirm: Zwischenstaatliche Rechtskonstruktion und verfassungsgerichtlic he Kontrolle”, (2011) EuZW , 167–171. Common Market Law Review 48: 1777–1806, 2011. © 2011 Kluwer Law International. Printed in the United Kingdom.
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