Maastricht treaty or no Maastricht treaty, loss of public support for the ECB will diminish its independence.

The exclusion of members who violate the Maastricht Treaty is off the table.

But if it goes too fast, the political cost could be substantial and irreversible. Politicians will push for more control and probably get it, Maastricht treaty or no Maastricht treaty.

The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 was probably the last masterpiece of Franco German creativity.

That was the purpose of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, which established the European Union.

When the Maastricht Treaty was negotiated, the Germans considered this provision an important concession.

A final way of thinking about the EU is as the ever closer union referred to in the Treaty of Rome and echoed in the Maastricht Treaty.

A decade ago, with the Maastricht Treaty, EU members agreed to respect the history, culture, and traditions of all of their constituent peoples.

Central bankers in Europe have always resented the narrow monetary policy mandate given to the ECB under the Maastricht Treaty.

For many years, Italy has disregarded the debt ceilings imposed by the Maastricht Treaty and the Stability and Growth Pact.

In 1993, when ruling on the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty, the judges expressed clear reservations about the direction of the European integration process.

Nineteen years of experience with the Maastricht Treaty, which created both the EU and the euro, has shown convincingly that such limits are unenforceable.

MUNICH In blatant violation of the Maastricht Treaty, the European Commission has come forward with one bailout plan after another for Europe s distressed economies.

The Maastricht treaty explicitly prohibits a eurozone country from leaving the euro, but says nothing about a temporary leave of absence (and therefore doesn t prohibit one).

This stance led to a dramatic acceleration in European integration, culminating in the adoption of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and the introduction of the euro in 1999.

The defining factor in Trichet s sense of duty is the Maastricht Treaty, which clearly states the prime objective of Europe s central bank to be the promotion of price stability.

The Maastricht Treaty established a monetary union, but the political union that is an indispensable precondition for the common currency s success remained a mere promise.

The response was eventually enshrined in the Maastricht Treaty, which extended the European Union s competences to foreign affairs and judicial matters, making them partly supranational.

On the contrary, Article 125 of the Maastricht Treaty explicitly excludes bailouts, stating that neither the Union nor its member states are liable for the commitments of EU governments.

From the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 to the tenth anniversary of the euro in 2009, the expected momentum for creating a common European polity was nowhere in sight.

The plaintiffs argue that, in the case of Greece, breaching Article 125 required proof that its insolvency would pose a greater danger than anticipated when the Maastricht Treaty was drafted.

When the European Council opened the way for Turkish membership in 1999, it fully took into account the establishment of the European (political) Union by the Maastricht Treaty years earlier.

They are getting away with their power grab even though it goes against the Maastricht Treaty, which excludes nationality as a criterion for membership on the Executive Board.

It was already evident when the Maastricht

The European Union s Maastricht Treaty was designed to deal only with imbalances in the public sector but, as it happened, the excesses in the banking sector were far worse.

The Stability and Growth Pact, contained in the Maastricht Treaty, laid down strict rules of budgetary discipline, which were immediately violated and not by small countries, but by both France and Germany.

According to Article 25 of the Maastricht Treaty, the ECB may offer advice to and be consulted by the Commission or the Council on the scope and implementation of legislation relating to prudential supervision.

Enter the Maastricht Treaty, which in theory imposes fiscal discipline by placing limits on government deficits and debt levels clearly a structure designed to prevent free riding on the fiscal discipline of others.

With the Germans helping to reconcile conflicting national interests by putting a little extra on the table, the process of European integration reached its apogee with the Maastricht Treaty and the introduction of the euro.

But this assumption was mistaken. From the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 to the tenth anniversary of the euro in 2009, the expected momentum for creating a common European polity was nowhere in sight.

With such low growth, the 3 of GDP ceiling for annual fiscal deficits is no longer compatible with the 60 limit on the debt GDP ratio that the Maastricht Treaty stipulates for the euro countries.

The plaintiffs argue that, in the case of Greece, breaching Article 125 required proof that its insolvency would pose a greater danger than anticipated when the Maastricht Treaty was drafted. However, no such proof was provided.

In Maastricht, for example, the Maastricht International Playgroup was established more than 10 years ago as a way to cater to the needs of expatriate families living in and around the area.

One idea making the rounds is for the European Parliament to define the ECB s objectives, on the basis that it is democratically elected as if the Maastricht Treaty did not result from a democratic process.

This new monetary union would be managed according to the original Maastricht Treaty, with a truly independent central bank responsible for regulating the northern euro s exchange rate against the euro, which less competitive countries would retain.

There the European Central Bank has also used up its gunpowder and cannot create inflation even if it wished to do so (which it cannot, because the Maastricht Treaty defines preservation of price stability as the ECB s only goal.)

Suppose Greece took 25 years to bring it down to the Maastricht ceiling of 60 .

While 25 of the EU s 27 governments agreed to the fiscal compact, aimed at imposing fiscal discipline on member states, there is no guarantee that governments will not violate the rules, just as they violated those established by the Maastricht Treaty.

The budget deficit is again out of control, and well over the 3 of GDP Maastricht ceiling.

The Court relied on the same constitutional doctrines and conceptions of sovereignty elaborated in its Maastricht judgment.

Maastricht was thus intended to prevent a situation like the current one in Greece.

I have lived in Europe all my life, mostly in Belgium, but never in Ireland, and I have never voted, despite the fact that the Maastricht treaty entitles me to vote both in European elections and in Belgium s local elections.

MUNICH In blatant violation of the Maastricht Treaty, the European Commission has come forward with one bailout plan after another for Europe s distressed economies. Now it wants to socialize not only government debt by introducing Eurobonds, but also banking debt by proclaiming a banking union.

The opposite is true in Europe. There the European Central Bank has also used up its gunpowder and cannot create inflation even if it wished to do so (which it cannot, because the Maastricht Treaty defines preservation of price stability as the ECB s only goal.)

But to bring the debt to GDP ratio to the 60 level prescribed by the Maastricht Treaty would require reducing the annual budget deficit to just 3 of GDP the goal that the eurozone s finance ministers have said that Greece must achieve by 2012.