An argument commonplace in narratives concerning the difficult recovery after the 2008 crisis, the relative backslide of 2011, and the European peripheral debt crisis is that difficulties occurred because European economic integration has been privileged over any form of political solidarity. Consequently, Europe should develop the institutions of solidarity to provide relief of instability and inequality. Maastricht had to lead to political Union and to some form of solidarity, but this aspect always remained vague and was not implemented. What has been implemented after the crisis is an even tougher set of control-oriented institutions that introduce further rigidities in European economies, reducing the degrees of freedom of national economic policy. The aim of this contribution is to argue that the implementation of solidarity schemes in the EU should not be conceived of as a compensatory measure for the costs and damages directly or indirectly caused by the European Monetary Union (EMU) and its rigidities and passiveness, including the inability to curb financial instability. Solidarity schemes should instead be the product of unified programs framed by a genuine constitutional federalism.
On 6 December 2017, the European Commission presented its policy package on 'Completing Europe's Economic and Monetary Union'. Some of the proposals it entails aim at improving the democratic accountability of the governance of the Eurozone. This paper examines how exactly this objective is supposed to be achieved, i.e. how national and European Parliaments are meant to be involved in this field. In doing so, it first considers the mechanisms that currently exist to this end and recalls some of the proposals previously made with the same goal, e.g. creation of a Eurozone sub-committee within the European Parliament or of a Eurozone parliament. Then, the proposals made by the Commission to enhance democratic accountability in the EMU are analysed, and it is contended that, overall, they are coherent with the content of the whole package, with previous statements, and with the interests of the EP. Yet, they appear insufficient, in particular because the involvement of national parliaments remains very limited. ; The ADEMU Working Paper Series is being supported by the European Commission Horizon 2020 European Union funding for Research & Innovation, grant agreement No 649396.
While there are many methods to measure the competitiveness of an economy, most of these concepts ignore the fact that competitiveness can change because of market processes like wage negotiation but also because of political decision-making. Governments that compete with others for factors of production face the incentive to adjust key policy variables to improve their competitive position. Disentangling market-induced and politics-induced changes in competitiveness is not easy, but strongly warranted given current discussions that some EMU Member States should improve their competitive position within the euro area by adjusting policy variables. Increasing country competitiveness is one of the key objectives currently discussed by policy makers in the context of creating an economic union in the euro area, to complement monetary union. We propose a new competitiveness index that captures the dimensions in which politics can influence competitiveness beyond factor price adjustments. Our index shows that the individual components of institutional competitiveness have developed heterogeneously among EMU Member States. To explain these divergent developments, the uneven integration within the EU Single Market may play a role.
The crisis that emerged following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers which is the fourth largest investment bank in the United States quickly spread to the entire world and has globally become a financial and real sector crisis. Today, the global financial crisis has influenced many countries in the world, and caused various economic, political and social problems in the European Union countries especially in Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain (PIIGS). The global financial crisis became the European Union's economic crisis at first, and later turned into to be the debt crisis of the Euro area. The decline observed in recent years in the economic performance of the countries of the Euro Area has become more apparent along with the economic crisis, and this situation increased the concern about the future of the Economic and Monetary Union. In this context, in this study within the framework of global capitalism, the economic, social and political problems that the global financial crisis caused in many countries are examined, observations were made on the Euro area public debt crisis and analyses were carried out on the PIIGS economies.
This paper explores how European integration impacts the national identities of Member States. Identity is an amorphous concept, and so this paper focuses on one dimension of it: the perception of the relative status of the nation that nationalized individuals possess. Perceptions of relative national status flow from the fact that the international system is characterized by hierarchy, competition, and concerns for relative gains and losses. A key motivation for the foreign policies of lower status nations is equality with higher status ones, and for the former, European integration is often perceived in equalizing terms. But, this perception of Europe as equalizer often does not correspond with objectively unequal power relations in Europe. This paper focuses on why, among nationalized individuals, perceptions of power differentials change, even though objectively the unequal inter-state power relations may remain unchanged. The case study is Italy entering the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union in 1999, which was perceived by many Italians in equalizing terms, even though the unequal power relations between Italy and Europe's elite countries remained objectively the same.
The creation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in Europe challenges much of what we have come to take for granted about states and the components of sovereignty. What does the willingness of twelve European Union (EU) members to abandon their own currencies mean for the nation-states of Europe? Does the Euro automatically imply further political development at the EU level? To address these questions, this paper parses out the role that national currencies play in statebuilding with reference to the nineteenth century American experience. Just as US federal authorities engaged in a political project to wrest control over money from subnational authorities to the center and unify the currency, so have the dynamics of currency unification in the EU involved important conflicts over the location of the legitimate exercise of control and rule. In particular, I highlight the role of war and market integration in prompting currency consolidation, and the importance of linkages between money and fiscal capacity for statebuilding, and apply the analytical lessons learned from the US experience to the case of the Euro.
Since the 1997 Amsterdam Intergovernmental Conference a sea-change in the formulation and implementation of European Union Social Law and Policy has taken place in response to the demands made by economic, political and monetary union. The evolution of EU social law is an area which has developed within a process or framework of "differentiated integration",1 not only between the Member States, but also the regions of the EU. Since its emergence in the EU Council's Conclusions of 22 June 19842 the concept of a "European Social Area" has slowly been created by the processes of "Europeanisation"3 of social policy whereby through EU-led processes a "re-nationalisation"4 of domestic policies has taken place. The process is similar to the ideas of "re-regulation" of national law in relation to the basic economic freedoms of the EC Treaty whereby a measure of national autonomy can only be retained through European Community law standards. It is striking how the Amsterdam IGC has led to a definite shift in the paradigm of EU social policy law with distinctive aims, values, processes, new legal tools and new political actors.
Given Italy's reputation for fiscal profligacy, the zeal with which Italians strove to meet the strict budgetary and other criteria to qualify for full participation in European Monetary Union might be in need of explanation. On a wider front, Italy has displayed an enthusiasm for European integration which has been largely free of the reservations occasionally shown by member‐states of comparable size and importance. This paper considers explanations which have been advanced for Italians' pro‐European attitude, such as Catholic universalism and Roman imperial traditions, but rejects them as insufficient, in order to argue that the modern experience of the nation‐state in Italy has failed to produce a strong sense of allegiance to a national identity, encouraging Italians to look to the European level of supranational institutions. Furthermore, it is argued that this lack of strong national allegiance in Italy is not simply a negative characteristic, but has allowed for the preservation of traditions of localism, federalism and social partnership in Italy which are potentially valuable contributions to a future configuration of the European Union.
"The crisis of the Eurozone has had a significant impact on the politics of Europe. In many countries, the euro was largely interpreted by elites as a development that would ameliorate their nations' problems. However, recent events have proven the contrary, with the rise of radical right-wing politics and populism across the continent. This book investigates the politics of the euro, with a primary focus on Italy, but also with additional chapters on the UK and Germany. Using a range of original and secondary data, it reconstructs how the euro was interpreted by both elites and non-elites from the late nineties to 2010. By recruiting a large sample of non-elites, it examines perceptions of the euro and the ways in which these views allowed for the justification of painful austerity measures required to enter the Economic and Monetary Union. In doing so, it sheds light on the ways in which non-elites interpret complex political objects like the euro and provides a systemic comparison of the cognitive schema of non-elites and elites."--
The publication of this book is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (Jean Monnet Information Project "Policy Debate with Academic World") and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland under the competition "Cooperation in the Area of Public Diplomacy 2015". The book reflects only the views of the Authors and cannot be understood as the official position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland. ; This publication contains studies on issues that nowadays are the biggest challenges for the EU and its Member States. They reflect the lines of research conducted within the framework of European studies and studies in economics and social sciences regarding issues related to the activities of the EU. This publication consists of seven parts. The first part, entitled "Understanding the European Union – the Main Challenges for the Coming Years", provides reflections on the major challenges that the EU will have to face in the nearest future. Eminent representatives of the Polish world of science and politics have shared their views on the matter. Those representatives being: prof. Lena Kolarska-Bobińska, Ph.D. – the current Minister of Science and Higher Education, Jan Truszczyński – the former Director General for Education and Culture of the European Commission, prof. Danuta Hübner, Ph.D. – the former Minister for European Affairs, Poland's first-ever European Commissioner, and prof. Ewa Latoszek, Ph.D. – head of the Jean Monnet Chair of the European Union at Warsaw School of Economics. The second part, entitled "European Union as a Global Actor in a Changing World", discusses the place of the European Union in the rapidly changing global economy. Articles in this section concern both the assessment of the hitherto pursued foreign policy of the EU and the possible perspectives for further cooperation with countries such as the states of the former Eastern bloc, Turkey, China, India and countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. The highly important issue of integrated development of individual regions is the focus of part three of the publication – "Regional Development for Economic and Social Cohesion in the European Union". This part provides reflections on, among others, the role of the state in creating regional policies, the hitherto achievements of the EU's cohesion policy and the role of other policies (for example the policy on energy or fisheries policy) for the cohesion policy and the economic growth resulting from it. Part four, "Towards Better Finance Governance in the European Union", focuses on a particularly important matter given the EU's experiences in recent years – that is the supervision of financial systems. The importance of this issue was clearly highlighted by the 2008+ crisis, which significantly changed the way the financial and real spheres of the economy are perceived. The focal points of the texts in this section are topics such as financial stability, supervision of financial institutions, common currency – the euro, and the reform of the EU budget. Part five, entitled "Shaping and Unfolding Innovation in the European Union", is dedicated to innovation – an essential element for continued growth of developed economies of the West. The articles raise important issues of the EU innovation policy, the role of innovation in international relations and the impact of foreign direct investment on the development of innovation. Additionally, Polish achievements in innovation – illustrated by the example of the airline industry – have been presented. Demographic changes are the focus of part six: "Demographic Changes in the European Union – Questions for the Future". The matter in question is important both in the context of the consequences of long-term population projections for Europe, as well as in the context of a serious migration crisis that is already being called a "refugee crisis". What is more, much attention was devoted to the current issues of population policy, with particular emphasis on its family-oriented dimension. The final part, entitled "Education and Research as Main Drivers of the EU's Sustainable Growth", focuses on the role of education and scientific research in the economic development of EU countries. Particularly noteworthy is the issue of access to education as a determinant of innovativeness of the economy and the quality of life of the society, addressed in this section. Additionally, the authors reflected on the current challenges facing the educational systems of European countries. Poland's accession to the European Union crowned the important historical stage that was the multidimensional systemic transformation. This is why the publication closes with a text entitled "The Success of Polish Transformation – Lessons for the Eastern Partnership Countries". This text is a historical analysis of the Polish political and economic transformation and the opportunities offered by the Polish experience to countries aspiring to EU membership. In addition, it also presents the main results of a survey conducted among the participants of the EuInteg conference in which they were asked to assess various aspects of the Polish transformation. The structure of the publication and the approach to the discussed topics were presented in such a way as to give the reader a broad overview of issues regarding the most important areas of EU activities. ; European Union (The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency or EACEA) Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland (Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych w Polsce) ; Marta Pachocka
The creation of Economic and Monetary Union is an essential stage in the construction of a European economic entity. Its introduction is inherent in a general rationale of the development of trade and markets but the economic growth which EMU sets out to guarantee is frustrated by the increase in unemployment in several European countries. The traditional boundary between the economic policy sphere and the political sphere is fading. One of the fundamental drawbacks of the creation of EMU is that virtually all possibility of economic adjustment becomes confined to the labour market and social protection. The benefits of social protection are regarded exclusively from the standpoint of costs which have to be reduced, no account being taken of the long-term economic and social effects of such a policy. Protection of the nation states (i.e. the principle of subsidiarity) and the international logic of the market block European political integration at a pre-federalist stage and curtail its social dimension. The shortcomings associated with such political choices have now become obvious and politically unacceptable, compelling governments to embark on new national and/or European employment polices and to reconsider the instruments currently used by the EU in the social policy field (subsidiarity principle, coordination of social security systems, convergence of targets).
Low international competitiveness of a set of euro area countries, which have become evident by large current account deficits and rising risk premiums on government bonds, is one of the most challenging economic policy issues for Europe. We analyse the role of private restructuring and public structural reforms for the urgently needed readjustment of intra-euro area imbalances. A panel regression reveals a significant impact of private restructuring and public structural reforms on intra-euro area competitiveness. This implies that private restructuring and public reforms are rather than public transfers the best way to preserve longterm economic stability in Europe.
The paper discusses some widely used methods for estimating output gaps based on aggregated data for the eurozone. Though these methods exhibit some common features, an empirical comparison demonstrates that the various techniques differ substantially. In particular, the correlation of output gaps calculated with different methods is generally low, the methods imply different turning points, and the estimated level of the output gap differs greatly. Moreover, tests suggest that some of the methods commonly used have only limited information content for inflation forecasting in the euro-zone. Conclusions for business cycle analysis and economic policy are offered. ; Der Aufsatz untersucht einige populäre Methoden zur Messung des Output Gaps auf der Basis von aggregierten Daten für die Euro-Zone. Obwohl die Methoden einige wichtige gemeinsame Eigenschaften aufweisen, zeigen sie auch erhebliche Unterschiede; insbesondere ist die Korrelation zwischen Output-Gap-Schätzungen auf Basis verschiedener Methoden niedrig, die Ansätze implizieren differierende Wendepunkte und das Niveau des Output Gaps variiert stark. Empirische Untersuchungen zeigen zudem, dass der Informationsgehalt der Gap-Variablen für die Prognose der Inflationsrate nur sehr klein ist. Einige Schlussfolgerungen hinsichtlich der Nützlichkeit von Output-Gap-Schätzungen und für die Wirtschaftspolitik werden gezogen.
