The Five Presidents’ Report: An Assessment of the Measures Proposed to Complete Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union

The Five Presidents’ Report presents a range of actions to complete Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union. This article examines whether the Five Presidents’ Report will lead to significant beneficial reforms, having regard to the European sovereign debt crisis and the legal framework of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The article discusses the background to the production of the Five Presidents’ Report, including how preceding reports responded to the European sovereign debt crisis. The proposals to create a European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS), European Fiscal Board (EFB) and a Eurozone Treasury are focussed upon in this article. The article concludes that the measures proposed in the report do not go far enough towards establishing financial stability in the Eurozone. A key criticism is that counter-cyclical policy has not been the focus of the report’s recommendations on fiscal matters.

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23. Economic and Monetary Union

European Union Politics ◽

10.1093/hepl/9780198806530.003.0023 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 343-357

Author(s):

Amy Verdun

Keyword(s):

Exchange Rates ◽

Monetary Union ◽

Sovereign Debt ◽

Global Financial Crisis ◽

Debt Crisis ◽

Economic And Monetary Union ◽

Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽

To Come ◽

Set Up ◽

The Global Financial Crisis

This chapter provides an introduction to economic and monetary union (EMU). It describes the key components of EMU and what happens when countries join. EMU was the result of decades of collaboration and learning, which have been subdivided here into three periods: 1969–91, taking us from the European Council’s first agreement to set up EMU to Maastricht, when the European Council included EMU in the Treaty on European Union (TEU); 1992–2002, from when plans for EMU were being developed to the irrevocable fixing of exchange rates; and 2002 onwards, once EMU had been established, and euro banknotes and coins were circulating in member states. Next, the chapter reviews various theoretical explanations, both economic and political, accounting for why EMU was created and looks at some criticisms of EMU. Finally, the chapter discusses how EMU has fared under the global financial crisis and the sovereign debt crisis. These crises brought to the fore various imperfections in the design of EMU. This section discusses what changes have been made since 2009 to address those flaws and at what we may expect in the years to come.

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Economic and Monetary Union: Evolution and Conflict

10.1093/oso/9780192846556.003.0022 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 721-751

Author(s):

Alicia Hinarejos

Keyword(s):

Monetary Union ◽

Euro Area ◽

Sovereign Debt ◽

Debt Crisis ◽

Economic And Monetary Union ◽

Current Debate ◽

Special Focus ◽

Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽

Basic Principles ◽

Critical Account

‘Economic and Monetary Union: Evolution and Conflict’ provides a critical account of the evolution of the European Union’s Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), with a special focus on changes and reforms adopted since the euro area crisis. The chapter provides an overview and analysis of, first, the history and principles underlying the original EMU; second, the most important reforms adopted in order to address the euro area sovereign debt crisis; and third, the ongoing questions in the debate. The chapter will conclude by discussing the ways in which the basic principles and assumptions underlying the original EMU have had to evolve, and the fundamental disagreements that underpin the current debate on the future of EMU.

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The Impact of the Introduction of Uniform European Collective Action Clauses on European Government Bonds as a Regulatory Result of the European Sovereign Debt Crisis

Journal of Risk and Financial Management ◽

10.3390/jrfm14010001 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Nicoletta Layher ◽

Eyden Samunderu

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Sovereign Debt ◽

Debt Crisis ◽

Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽

The European Union ◽

Bond Yields ◽

Member States ◽

Sovereign Bond ◽

European Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽

Collective Action Clauses

This paper conducts an empirical study on the inclusion of uniform European Collective Action Clauses (CACs) in sovereign bond contracts issued from member states of the European Union, introduced as a regulatory result of the European sovereign debt crisis. The study focuses on the reaction of sovereign bond yields from European Union member states with the inclusion of the new regulation in the European Union. A two-stage least squares regression analysis is adopted in order to determine the extent of impact effects of CACs on member states sovereign bond yields. Evidence is found that CACs in the European Union are priced on financial markets and that sovereign bond yields do respond to the inclusion of uniform CACs in the European Union.

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