Shaping a polity in an economic and monetary union: the EU in comparative perspective

2004 ◽  
pp. 51-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberta M. Sbragia
Author(s):  
Menelaos Markakis

This chapter looks at the crisis-induced legal, institutional, and economic developments within the Economic and Monetary Union. It consists of two parts. First, there will be a brief sketch of the crisis-related developments. These include the setting-up of financial mechanisms, the European Central Bank’s interventions to combat the crisis, the enhanced oversight of national fiscal and economic policy, and the increased supervision over the financial sector. Second, there will be a ‘first assessment’ of their constitutional and structural implications. Two sets of issues will be examined here: issues of legal principle; and the bearing of the enacted measures on European economic integration. Three key arguments will be made in this chapter. First, it will be argued that the measures enacted have led to legislative fragmentation and have exacerbated problems of transparency and complexity which already existed in this area. Second, it will be shown that the chosen form of action has consequences for institutional balance in the EU, democratic control, and judicial review. Third, it will be argued that the enactment of measures which are only applicable to Euro area Member States has served to deepen economic integration within the Euro area and to further differentiate it from economic integration in non-Euro area Member States. Further, certain areas of the single market have integrated more deeply in the Euro area. It will be concluded that the various reforms which have been implemented have strengthened the EU economic governance framework from a legal, institutional, and economic perspective.


2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Serhan Çiftçioglu

The main focus of this paper is to analyze the likely consequences of the possible increase in the monetary instability and decrease in the rate of wage indexation in the EU (that can result from the completion of economic and monetary union) on the macroeconomic stability of small, open economies which are in the process of integration with the EU. Such periphery countries include countries as Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Turkey and others.


1998 ◽  
Vol 165 ◽  
pp. 109-114
Author(s):  
John Arrowsmith

The decision by the EU Council of Heads of State or of Government at the beginning of May, that eleven Member States would form an Economic and Monetary Union on 1 January 1999, occasioned little surprise: financial markets and economic commentators had become increasingly convinced over the preceding months that EMU would start on time with a membership extending beyond the six ‘core’ countries—France, Germany, the Benelux countries and Austria—to include also Finland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. What was not widely expected was that the ECOFIN and HoSoG Councils on 1–2 May appear to have spent little time debating the economic case for including each of the eleven countries but to have been preoccupied instead with a heated political row about who should be appointed President of the European Central Bank.This note assesses the possible consequences that this cavalier approach to the vital question of membership of monetary union might have for the conduct of policy in Stage 3 and the future viability of EMU. It examines the economic evidence that had been presented to the Councils to see whether their judgement that the economies of all eleven countries are sufficiently convergent is warranted. It also considers whether the unseemly compromise through which the dispute about the ECB Presidency was resolved will prejudice the political independence of the ECB in its conduct of monetary policy.


Res Publica ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-545
Author(s):  
Ivan Couttenier

In 1996, Belgian politics centered around three major issues: the jobs contract, the 1997 budget and political fallout of the Dutroux affair (the four girls killed by a pedophile ring).During the first months of the year, Prime Minister Dehaene attempted to win support for a comprehensive jobs contract, but the draft agreement was turned down by the Socialist trade union militants. Nevertheless, the measures contained in the agreement were later implemented by the cabinet, without the consent of the employers and organized labor. Together with adjustments made to the social security system and implementation of budgetary measures needed to reach the conditions set by the EU for joining the Economic and Monetary Union, the jobs contract was implemented by means of special powers. The cabinet obtained these special powers from Parliament before the summer recess.  After the summer, as a result ofthe Dutroux alfair, the cabinet dealt with legal reform, in the process trying to quell tensions arisen among the law enforcement agencies.


2020 ◽  
pp. 583-611
Author(s):  
Alicia Hinarejos

This chapter explains how the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was set up and the flaws within the system. It gives a brief overview of the euro crisis and its relationship to, and consequences for, EMU. Finally, it looks to the current debate on the future of EMU and the EU, including the development of an EU banking union.


2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.J.G. Kapteyn

Both the EU- and the EC-Treaties refer in prominent places to the establishment of economic and monetary union (Articles 2 EU and EC). This union is mentioned as one of the principal means of achieving the Union's and the Community's economic and social objectives. Such a prominent place is not allotted it in the Constitution. In its effort to separate the basic provisions from the other provisions in the treaties, the Convention decided to retain only the European Union's objectives in the actual constitutional part. The concrete activities pertaining to the economic and monetary union, as well as its ‘guiding principles’ of stable prices, sound public finances and monetary conditions and a sustainable balance of payments were relegated to Part III that deals with the Union's policies.


Author(s):  
Etienne Schneider ◽  
Felix Syrovatka

After more than seven years of fiscal austerity and neoliberal structural reforms, the fundamental imbalances that led to the Eurozone crisis have remained unresolved and the project of European integration as such appears to be in the deepest crisis it has experienced so far. This has prompted the dominant forces in the EU to at least partially reconsider their present crisis management strategies, envisioning deeper integration towards a “Genuine Economic and Monetary Union” and outlining different future scenarios for the EU. While especially the Five President’s Report does acknowledge fundamental construction problems and crisis tendencies of the Economic and Monetary Union, the strategies to address them either fall tremendously short of this diagnosis or lack assertiveness. We argue that this inability to confront these crisis tendencies results from the growing economic and political asymmetry in the axis between France and Germany as the principal mechanism of compromise which undergirded previous cycles of European economic integration. At the bottom of this paralysis lies a gradual shift in the dominant internationalization patterns of the German political economy within the European division of labor: away from Southern Europe and France and towards Eastern Europe and the Emerging Markets.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-91
Author(s):  
Tamás Szemlér

Abstract The aim of this article is to highlight challenges to European integration by raising key concerns and generating debate about potential responses. This discussion is intended to be a starting point for further research and the development of more policy-specific recommendations to tackle these challenges successfully. I begin by explaining the need for a clear and realistic integration mission and then turn to the example of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), one of the most tangible achievements of European integration policy. The EMU also highlights the critical importance of clarity and realism in any approach to integration. My analysis moves next to the challenges that the EU is facing today and considers how the European Commission has evaluated and reacted to these challenges. Finally I propose some key elements of – and make the case for – a constructive practical approach.


Presenting a sweeping analysis of the legal foundations, institutions, and substantive legal issues in EU monetary integration, The EU Law of Economic and Monetary Union serves as an authoritative reference on the legal framework of European economic and monetary union. The book opens by setting out the broader contexts for the European project - historical, economic, political, and regarding the international framework. It goes on to examine the constitutional architecture of EMU; the main institutions and their legal powers; the core legal provisions of monetary and economic union; and the relationship of EMU with EU financial market and banking regulation. The concluding section analyses the current EMU crisis and the main avenues of future reform.


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