Berlin, 18.12.2017

German MP Fabio De Masi (DIE LINKE.) and former Greek Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis sue the European Central Bank to gain access to the legal opinion titled "Responses to questions concerning the interpretation of Art. 14.4 of the Statue of the ESCB and of the ECB". The lawsuit was submitted to the General Court of the EU by Prof. Andreas Fischer-Lescano.

The lawsuit was preceded by a request for document access supported by more than 18.000 citizens from across Europe, Members of national parliaments and European Parliament as well as prominent academics from the US and Europe. Prominent supporters came from various political backgrounds including Social Democracy and the Greens and hold divergent views on the future of the EU and the Eurozone. Supporters included among others Jean-Luc Mélenchon (MP, La France insoumise, candidate for the French Presidency 2017), Sahra Wagenknecht (MP, Chair of DIE LINKE parliamentary group in the German parliament), Stefano Fassina (MP,  Sinistra Italiana, former Vice Minister of Economy and Finances Italy), and Zoe Konstantopoulou (former President of the Greek parliament, Plefsi Eleftherias).

Fabio De Masi comments on the case:

"Blackmail is not the job of the ECB. By restricting liquidity to the Greek banking sector to force cuts in pensions, tax increases and fire-sale privatizations the ECB overstepped its mandate. In its multiple roles as creditor, referee and lender-of-last-resort the ECB is faced with unresolvable conflicts of interest, which also cast doubt on its independence. If the ECB felt that its actions were legal, it should disclose the legal opinion it obtained rather than hiding it from the public eye."

The statement of the case (in German) is available here.

Kontakt:

Fabio De Masi

Deutscher Bundestag

Platz der Republik 1

11011 Berlin

Fabio.demasi@bundestag.de <mailto:Fabio.demasi@bundestag.de> 

Tel: +49 30 227 77012