Pringle tells court ESM ‘should never have been set up’

The EU’s rescue fund, the ESM, is illegal, accountable to nobody and should never have been established in its current structure, the EU’s highest court was told by lawyers on behalf of Independent TD Thomas Pringle.

If a majority of the 27 judges of the European Court of Justice that heard the case in Luxembourg agree, the EU will have to go back to the drawing board and find a new way of making legal the ESM, that could ultimately be worth €1tn.

This would mean a referendum in Ireland to change the EU treaties and could also trigger a vote among the British electorate that could be very difficult to win.