External Relations of the EU and Euro Area in the field of EMU
This chapter will focus on the relations of the European Union (EU) and euro area with the main international financial institutions (IFIs) from the perspective of EU law. Among the IFIs the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the more informal groupings of the G20, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) will be highlighted. The aim, in a chapter of this length, is not to give an account of the activities of these bodies and the EU’s policy positions and priorities; rather it is to highlight, from the perspective of EU law, the legal-institutional questions and challenges that arise from EU participation. The unified representation of the euro area in the IFIs has surfaced repeatedly in the context of the on-going discussions concerning the development of the Economic Monetary Union (EMU) (see below in Section II). These discussions, however, primarily reflect the EU institutional interest (Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB)) to strengthen their institutional presence in the IFIs: something that is met with strong reluctance by the Member States. While the Member States ostensibly support increased EU influence in the IFIs, they are also concerned about preserving their own individual positions and status.