Special Issue The OMT Decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court Blind Date Between Familiar Strangers: The German Constitutional Court Goes Luxembourg! By Asteris Pliakos * & Georgios Anagnostaras ** A. Introduction Preliminary references by national constitutional courts are not an everyday occurrence in Union law. 1 No surprise, therefore, that they attract considerable publicity and give rise to a significant amount of academic comment. 2 However, the recent preliminary request of the German Federal Constitutional Court (GFCC) in Gauweiler constitutes undoubtedly the most important and historic preliminary reference made thus far by a constitutional court. 3 This is not only because it is the very first preliminary request of this particular court, inaugurating potentially a whole new era in its institutional relationships with the Court of Justice and paving the way for other national constitutional courts to make more regular recourse to the preliminary reference procedure; but also because it relates to an issue of central importance for the process of European integration with far reaching economic and political repercussions. * Asteris Pliakos, Professor of European Union Law at the Athens University of Economics and Business and Director of the Scientific Committee of the Hellenic Parliament. pliakos@aueb.gr. All views expressed are personal. ** Georgios Anagnostaras, Legal Advisor at the Hellenic Radio and Television Council and Teaching Associate at the Technological University of Athens. anagnostaras@esr.gr. All views expressed are personal. 1 For a very recent contribution on the matter, see Jan Komarek, The Place of Constitutional Courts in the EU, 9 EUCONST 420 (2013). See also Giuseppe Martinico, Preliminary Reference and Constitutional Courts: Are You in the Mood for Dialogue?, Tilburg Institute of Comparative and Transnational Law Working Paper 2009/10, available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1483664. See generally MORTEN BROBERG & NIELS FENGER, PRELIMINARY REFERENCES TO THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE (2014). 2 See, i.e., Aida Torres Perez, Constitutional Dialogue on the European Arrest Warrant: The Spanish Constitutional Court KŶoĐkiŶg oŶ Ludžeŵďourg’s Door, 8 EUCONST 105 (2012); Filippo Fontanelli and Giuseppe Martinico, Between Procedural Impermeability and Constitutional Openness: The Italian Constitutional Court and Preliminary References to the European Court of Justice, 16 ELJ 345 (2010); Franck Laffaille, Il y a toujours une première fois. A propos de l’appliĐatioŶ de l’artiĐle Ϯϯϰ TCE par la Cour Đonstitutionnelle italienne, 45 REVUE TRIMESTRIELLE DE DROIT EUROPEEN [RTDE] 459 (2009). 3 Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfG - The Federal Constitutional Court], Case No. 2 BvR 2728/13, (Feb. 7, 2014), available at https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/en/decisions/rs20140114_2bvr272813en.html. A detailed press release is available at https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/en/press/bvg14-009en.html.