A group of professors and entrepreneurs filed a complaint against the European Central Bank's monetary policy this week at Germany's top court, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper said, as German criticism of the ECB grows louder. A complaint would open a new chapter in a long-running legal battle between Europe's central bank (ECB) and groups within the euro zone's biggest economy who want to curb the bank's power.
A challenge to an emergency plan the ECB made at the height of the euro zone crisis is also back at Germany's Constitutional Court after being rejected by Europe's top court in June. The German court will make a final ruling this year.
There has been widespread criticism in Germany of the ECB's monetary policy in recent weeks, with politicians complaining that low interest rates are hitting the savings and retirement provisions of ordinary Germans.
Welt am Sonntag said the issue in the latest complaint filed at the Constitutional Court was whether the ECB had overstepped its mandate by extensively buying government bonds and with its plan to start buying corporate bonds. A spokesman for the Constitutional Court could not immediately comment on the report.