European Economic Governance Structures Post Crisis

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European Economic Governance Structures Post
Crisis

• Brigid Laffan
• Director
• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies

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Crises are open moments-system changing and
system creating
CRISIS
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WEAK
EU Legitimacy
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Europes Compound Polity

• Pooled Sovereignty-Divided Accountability
• Horizontal and Vertical Accountability
• EU- A Marbled Cake Polity

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Creating a Genuine EMU
One of the guiding principles is that democratic
control and accountability should occur at the
level at which the decisions are taken. The
implementation of this guiding principle is key
to ensuring the effectiveness of the integrated
financial, budgetary and economic policy
frameworks.
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We need more binding and more ambitious rules
and commitments for the Euro area Member States.
They should reflect that sharing a single
currency means sharing responsibility for the
Euro area as a hole. They should pave the way for
a new quality of cooperation and integration
within the Euro area (Letter from Chancellor
Merkel and President Sarkozy to Herman Van
Rompuy, 7th December 2011 http//www.ambafrance-uk
.org/President-Sarkozy-s-press,20171).
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Crisis Responses

• Crisis Management
• Bailouts (4 member states Spanish banks)/Troika
• Politics of austerity and retrenchment
• ECB non-standard measures

• Crisis Prevention
• Task Force reported in Autumn 2010
• Euro Pact
• Six Pack Legislation
• Two Pack
• Fiscal Compact
• European Semester
• Banking Union

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European Semester
Ex ante guidance

• Vertical
• National Finance Ministries
• Governments

• Calendar Approach
• Horizontal
• Commission (home work re. aggregate, individual
  member states, surveillance)
• Council-CSR

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Parliaments

• EP
• Six Pack and Semester
• Introduction of the "economic dialogue". It
  established the right of EP committees to invite
  the President of the Council, of the Commission
  and of the European Council to appear before the
  committee and discuss coordination and
  surveillance measures.

• Article 13 TSCG provides for the EP and of
  national parliaments to "discuss" policies and
  other issues covered by the TSCG.
• National Parliaments
• When and how to engage?

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Political Accountability

• Democratic politics-incumbents and traditional
  parties under pressure
• Challenger parties Electoral Volatility
• Eurozone- a low trust regime
• The Politics of Constrained Choice

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Need for Balance

• Fiscal Consolidation
• Structural Reform
• Growth and Employment

Flexibility
Politicisation