ECJ annuls a national measure against an independent central banker

Abstract

A recent judgment of the ECJ underlined the increasing interweaving of EU law and national law in the area of central bank law, not only in substantive matters but, also procedurally.In the first cases since the provision providing for this anomaly was inserted in the Treaty 1 in 1993, the ECJ confirmed that review of a national legal act affecting the independence of the monetary authority lies with the European Court of Justice.Normally, only legal acts of EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies can be challenged before the CJEU (Article 263 TFEU); national legal acts with an EU law connotation may come before the CJEU through a reference for a preliminary ruling (Article 267 TFEU) or in infringement proceedings (Article 258 TFEU).Admittedly, this is a singular and exceptional case as it concerns review of a Member State measure by which a Governor of a National Central Bank (NCB) is "relieved from office".Together with the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), NCB Governors in the Eurosystem 2 form the ECB's Governing Council, which has ultimate decision-making power 3 for monetary policy in the Euro Area 4 .Since monetary policy is an exclusive Union competence 5 , at least for the Member States 6 , to be pursued in independence 7 , the Court found that it has jurisdiction to assess the legality of a measure that interferes with an NCB Governor performing his functions and annulled the relevant national decision in so far as it prohibits the Governor from performing his duties as NCB Governor.There is more that's exceptional about this case: alleged corruption at a central bank, allegations of money laundering and of a misinformation campaign..The Court's judgment comes against the backdrop of alleged corruption and money laundering in a Baltic state, and alleged misinformation from outside the EU 8 .The cases from Latvia originate in allegations of improper