The shot from Karlsruhe

On the one hand, Germany's Federal Constitutional Court could not have chosen a worse time to intervene in the public debate regarding the mandate of the European Central Bank, with its demand for explanations concerning the system of "quantitative easing" which is generally acknowledged as having saved the euro.
On the other, circumstances are ideal for everyone to realize that the European Union today has to choose between survival and dismemberment. In the grip of a pandemic, when huge amounts of money are needed just to limit the damage to society and the economy, when consensus is imperative, the German judges' decision demands a serious and decisive response.

The case concerns an effort by the economist and founder of the anti-euro Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Bernd Lucke, and three entrepreneurs to get the court in Karlsruhe to declare that the ECB's...