(Brussels) The so-called anti-spread shield, devised by the European Central Bank as a measure against financial crisis and sovereign debt, is in keeping with German laws and the powers conferred on the ECB. The ruling has been issued by the German Constitutional Court, based in Karlsruhe. The judges rejected an appeal – submitted by euro-sceptic politicians and citizens – against the “Outright Monetary Transaction” programme for buying securities of countries in crisis. The opposite decision would have stopped some securities of the German Central Bank (Bundesbank) on international markets and might have nipped in the bud the “Quantitative easing”, an operation with which the ECB is putting billions into the European economic system as an anti-crisis response. The European Commission, which had supported the ECB, immediately commented: “We acknowledge the ruling issued today by the German Constitutional Court, with which the appeal against the “Outright Monetary Transaction” programme of the European Central Bank has been rejected. We welcome the fact that the Court basically confirmed the ruling of the European Court of Justice dated 16th June 2015”. Therefore, “the European Central Bank is acting within the remit conferred to it by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Without infringing on the independence of the European Central Bank, the European Commission fully supports the ECB in the fulfilment of its remit”.