European Monetary Union

Credit © European Union, 2013

The shortcomings of the EU’s fragmentary and unsystematic set-up became evident when the EU and some of its Member States moved from the periphery to the centre of the crisis in 2009.
This holds particularly true for the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) that seemed to turn from an asset for integration into a liability during the crisis: Procedures were perceived to be clumsy contrasting the urgent need for speed, and compliance with ostensibly well-established rules seemed to be practically inexistent. These and other factors triggered a number of ad-hoc safeguard measures like the “six-pack” or the “fiscal compact”, etc.
Against this backdrop, the task of the Thematic Programme “EMU” is to analyse the changes made so far and assess their consequences.
Sample of Pertinent Research Questions:

• Are the measures taken suitable from an economic, legal and political perspective? Are they legal? Are they legitimate? Do they contribute to economic recovery and growth?
• How does the “new” EMU affect the horizontal and vertical power distribution in the EU?
• How does the post-crisis EMU impinge on democracy on EU and MS levels?
• Is fiscal federalism necessary to stabilize EMU and if so, how could it look like?
• How will the new economic governance transform the European economic order?