Previous European bailouts had to be approved by the German parliament and were subject to review by the German courts. Indeed the German supreme court will rule on the constitutionality of the most recent bailout, tomorrow. But the ECB’s decision to accept unlimited bond purchases is immune to such democratic controls. The bank cannot be overruled by the German parliament. And because it is an EU institution, the ECB cannot be checked by the German courts – only by the European Court of Justice.

过去，欧盟的纾困必须得到德国国会的批准，还必须接受德国法院的复审。事实上，德国宪法法院刚刚对最近一次纾困是否违宪作出了裁决。但欧洲央行作出的无限量债券购买决定，却不受此类民主机制制约。德国国会不能推翻欧洲央行的决定。另外，因为欧洲央行是欧盟机构，所以它不受德国法院管辖，只受欧洲法院(European Court of Justice)管辖。

At the ECB, the president of the German central bank has just one vote – the same as the presidents of the central banks of Malta or Slovenia. Jens Weidmann, the head of the Bundesbank, cast the sole vote against the bond-buying plans.

在欧洲央行，德国央行(Bundesbank)行长手中只有一票，跟马耳他或斯洛文尼亚央行行长手中的票数一样。欧洲央行债券购买计划表决时，德国央行行长延斯·魏德曼(Jens Weidmann)投下了唯一的一张反对票。

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