Fondation Robert Schuman: Strengthening economic governance of the euro

06 June 2016

In spite of intense efforts to undertake reform by the leaders of the European Union in response to the sovereign crises and the inadequacies of Economic and Monetary Union, economic governance is revealing its weaknesses, which, in turn is undermining integration as a whole.

This highlights limits typified by the heterogeneous nature of the institutions, the complexity of procedures, ill adapted instruments, the low rate of implementation of recommendations by the States, the evident lack of decision making capacity and the inadequacy of the planned reforms.

The solutions put forward in this paper to remedy the situation comprise a decisive institutional step forward in the establishment of a European Finance Minister to lead economic governance, to lead the euro zone along the path to sustained growth, whilst simultaneously ensuring that economies draw closer together. In addition to this economic governance must be clarified and its procedures refocused, its budgetary monitoring and macro- economic instruments have to be revised to point the countries towards growth and convergence. Finally the establishment of true economic government under a revived institutional framework has to be prepared immediately.

Full paper

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