Following years of sustained growth, policymakers in Europe – and beyond – have been unexpectedly confronted with the largest health, economic and social challenges since WWII, threatening the stability of the European Union and its Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic has required rapid and strong action. It also entails key choices, including on how the EU could help mitigate the impact of Covid-19, foster the economic recovery and support the dual green and digital transitions.

In September 2019, before the crisis, the Directorate General for Economy and Finance of the European Commission organised a workshop on strengthening the institutional architecture of the EMU. This eBook presents the main ideas discussed at the workshop. The workshop took stock of the debate on key challenges and the future of EMUís institutional architecture and sketched out the directions in which the reforms could go. It dealt more in depth with two of the ideas debated in the public sphere at the time: that of a euro area treasury and of a European Minister or High Representative for Economy and Finance.

The weaknesses and solutions discussed in the workshop are still relevant in the economic context reshaped by the Covid-19 crisis. The crisis has shed a light on the EUMís incomplete institutional architecture and revealed that public opinion expects the EU to deliver in emergency situations. Steps taken in response to the current crisis could bring progress with the EMU deepening agenda. This eBook contributes to identifying those reforms that, beyond addressing the more immediate needs, can deliver sustainable progress on the institutional set-up of EMU.

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