Light and shadows in the Bundesverfassungsgericht’s decision upholding the European Banking Union

This annotation first analyses the key steps of the FCC’s reasoning, following the two main issues that are intertwined in the decision: on the one hand, the transfer of national powers to European authorities, and, on the other hand, the implications of the nature of such authorities as “administrative independent bodies”. Second, it highlights some contradictions that arise from the reasoning of the German Constitutional Court. Subsequently, the decision is placed within the broader landscape of the FCC’s “European” case law, illustrating how the FCC took an important step in the fine-tuning of its theoretical design of the different models of ultra vires review and identity review. Finally, the annotation argues that although the theoretical richness of the Court’s reasoning may seem disproportionate to the practical effects of the decision, they both serve the protection of German national interests.