Explores issues surrounding the European Monetary Union, including the financial impact of the euro, the behavior of monetary and fiscal authorities, and the consequences of EU enlargement.

With the advent of the third and final phase of European and Monetary Union (EMU), the debate over European monetary unification is at the top of the political and economic agenda. Much has been written over the past five years about whether EMU is justified given the various expected benefitsand prospective costs, but there has been little detailed material on how EMU will work and what the practical implications of it will be for Europe as a whole. Economic Policy in EMU is a comprehensive look at the mechanisms involved, likely effects on monetary and budgetary policy, and the ways in which monetary union will deal with and affect business cycles and regional differences. It combines rigorous analysis of how the European economy works withan insider view of how this will change after 1999: as such, it is vital reading for all involved in the most important topic facing Europe today.

This book examines fiscal policy coordination in EMU and the required adjustments to national fiscal policies by EMU member states. The book shows that, in the process of Europeanization, national interests have had a major impact on the formation of fiscal policy coordination.

This text explores issues of economic and political governance in the European Monetary Union (EMU). Combining the perspectives of economics, law, political science, and historical research, the book provides an up-to-date analysis of the development of the Eurozone and assesses the prospects for the economic and political sustainability of the euro. Based on the revised proceedings of the First Alumni Conference of the European University Institute, Florence, in 2003, the contributors discuss the problem of democratic governance and an alleged democratic deficit in the Eurozone in the wake of the failure of the EU Constitutional Treaty. A further focus is the future of macro-economic cooperation in the framework of the recently reformed Stability and Growth Pact. Will the Eurozone members be able to harmonize their policies so as to avoid a progressive weakening of economic coordination? The third part of the volume deals with the role of the euro as international currency - in particular with regard to the dollar - and as regional anchor for countries in geographical proximity to the EU.

European Economic and Monetary Union does not envisage creating a central fiscal authority. Monetary and exchange rate policies will be centralized, but fiscal policy will remain a national responsibility, in line with the subsidiarity principle. This paper argues that monetary union will generate pressures for closer economic integration than currently envisaged. Although not a necessity, a more active central role could then be justified on the grounds of allocative efficiency, redistribution, and stabilization. While in the short term enhanced policy coordination may address those pressures satisfactorily, as economic integration proceeds, the case for a central fiscal authority may become stronger.

EMU started with eleven member countries as scheduled on January 1, 1999. The paper shows that the primacy of politics over economics in this decision could have serious consequences concerning the stability of EMU in the transition phase. Speculative attacks against currencies which are in economic distress due to asymmetric shocks can still happen. A speculative attack as such cannot force a country out of EMU. However, the country concerned might voluntarily decide to leave the system as the costs of staying inside EMU, e.g., due to further rising unemployment, become too large to bear.

This book deals with the EC rules on the free movement of capital and economic and monetary union (EMU). In the context of capital freedom, the author performs a critical analysis, supported by case law, of the problems connected with the abolition of capital controls within the European Community and between the European Community and third countries. The book highlights some of the negative consequences of capital freedom, such as the scope for tax evasion and money laundering. EC rules on EMU, such as the rules on convergence criteria, Stability and Growth Pact, the euro and the continuity of contract, and others, are also presented in a detailed and critical manner.

This book sheds new light on if and why, between 2009 and 2015, European governments succeeded or failed in initiating and actually realizing some of the farthest-reaching austerity plans in modern history. The author analyzes the economic and political context and the underlying causes of austerity and economic adjustment packages during the Euro crisis. In doing so, he shows that austerity has its roots in an institutional mismatch between capitalist diversity in the Eurozone on the one hand, and an ill-conceived common economic regime on the other. In this context, austerity trumped politics, and even democracy itself. The book will appeal to scholars of political science and comparative political economy, as well as governmental policymakers and practitioners in the finance sector.

The issue of the European Constitution refers not only to a simplification of the Community Treaties but also to the relationship between the system of the European Community and constitutional system of the Member States. A political Constitution should be complementary to existing economic Constitutions.