European Court of Justice to decide if public institutions have a right to refuse cash
from Norbert Häring
On 27 March, the highest administrative court in Germany, the Bundesverwaltungsgericht, has referred my case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg. I have insisted to pay my legally required contributions to public radio and TV with the legal tender, euro cash. This is not possible according to their regulations. The Bundesverwaltungsgericht has ruled that there is indeed a requirement for all public institutions to accept cash based on §14 of the Bundesbank Act, which makes euro-banknotes legal tender. However, they will ask the ECJ to clarify, if this law is in agreement with higher ranking European law.
§14 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 of the Bundesbank Act says:
“Banknotes denominated in euro shall be the sole unrestricted legal tender.”
Article 128 Paragraph 1 Sentence 3 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) reads:
“The banknotes issued by the European Central Bank and the national central banks shall be the only such notes to have the status of legal tender within the Union.”
In its decision, the Bundesverwaltungsgericht rejected the reasoning of the lower courts and said that the Bundesbank Act does indeed imply that all sovereign institutions in Germany must accept cash. The German court is asking the ECJ to rule on whether §14 of the Bundesbank Act has the same content as Article 128 TFEU. If not, it would have to be decided, if §14 is invalid immediately or if it would be valid until it is changed or cancelled to bring it in accordance with EU law.
Communications of EU institutions and lawmakers support the interpretation that Article 128 TFEU also establishes a requirement for all public institutions to accept euro banknotes.
The implications of a friendly ECJ-ruling could be far-reaching, since more and more public institutions are refusing to accept cash and many EU-countries even have issued laws restricting payments in cash to certain maximum amounts.
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—– look inside —– $5.94 / $20.00
—– look inside —– $4.90 / $8.00
—– look inside —– $15.99
—– look inside —– $5.99 / 12.99
—– look inside —– $5.93 / $12.99
—– look inside —– $4.97 / $9.90
—— Ugarteche, Puyana and Madi ——
Gerson Lima / Maria Alejandra Madi
Edward Fullbrook and Jamie Morgan
————— Michael Hudson ————–
Maria Alejandra Madi / Jack Reardon
————- Edward Fullbrook ————-
—————— Steve Keen —————–
————— Richard Smith —————
————– Gustavo Marques————
– Victor Beker and Beniamino Moro –
————– Lars Pålsson Syll ————-
—————– Stuart Birks —————-
Edward Fullbrook and Jamie Morgan
———— Armando Ochangco ———-
Shimshon Bichler / Jonathan Nitzan
————— Mauro Gallegati ————–
————— Herman Daly —————-
————— Asad Zaman —————
—————– C. T. Kurien —————
————— Robert Locke —————-
Real-World Economics Review Blog 
On the other hand, the EU legal framework fortunately allows a eurozone country to issue a national digital (electronic) currency, where there are no bills.
And it doesn’t need to be declared legal tender to circulate, this will happen anyway – in parallel to the euro.
See earlier contribution here from Steve Keen, Marco Cattaneo and myself: https://rwer.wordpress.com/2018/11/20/nine-years-with-euro-crisis-time-to-think-anew/
In the absence of a clear and transparent European/International judicial system, one cannot help but remember May Day.
On the occasion of May Day (Workers’ Day), which happens this year to coincide with ancient celebrations of the first day of spring in ancient Mesopotamia, known in the West as “April Fools’ Day”, Mrs. May maybe subjected to other rounds of humiliating defeat, and eventually forced to resign. She may or may not vanish from the face of the earth altogether, but neither the workers whom she has rubbed off tens of billions of pounds will forget how “foolish” she was, nor those from whom she inherited such brutality of heart. She and her predecessors have left such shortages of basic health care, policing, education, and social infrastructures that it will take decades to put things back to the level of a reasonable social contract between capital and Labour. And they are still at it!