Research project | Updated 06/03/2012 

The EMU, or Economic and Monetary Union set up under the Maastricht Treaty, fostered the creation of the single currency. In completing the European Single Act and creating a single market within the European Union, the euro has put paid to the monetary problems and fluctuating exchange rates that troubled the European economy. The euro, a factor for economic integration, was built on a solid monetary pillar: an independent European central bank whose purpose is to combat inflation and, albeit without jeopardizing its primary goal, to support the Union's objectives (Article 127 TEU).

The EMU, however, lacked such a strong economic pillar in the early days. With the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) and the creation of the Eurogroup, one might have thought that the coordination of what were still effectively national economic policies would be bound to develop. The TEU clearly states in Article 121 that «the member states consider their economic policies to be a matter of common interest and coordinate them in the Council». The failure of the SGP and the insufficiency of European integration in the economic field, however, was very much in evidence in the financial crisis that began in 2008, despite the protective role that the euro was able to play.

Notre Europe wishes to contribute to the debate on the expansion of European economic governance and to assess the impact of the crisis on the need for more Europe in the economic field. This unquestionably concerns the reforms under way in the European semester, but it should also concern European action designed to participate in imparting a fresh thrust to the economy.

Notre Europe’s thinking about economic governance

Notre Europe has been insisting for a long time on the EMU's economic pillar. Thus as long ago as 1999, Notre Europe President Jacques Delors said: «The euro, however, cannot be confined merely to playing (a) defensive, shield-like role. It must (...) become a tool for economic and social progress for the Europeans and a factor for stability in the world's economy as a whole. To achieve this, we believe that, consistent with the treaties, a balance must be struck between the economic and monetary poles, as indeed it already is in each individual country». (Making a Success of Economic and Monetary Union, foreword by Jacques Delors and Giorgio Ruffolo, Étude dated 15/03/1999)

At the very beginning of the financial crisis in November 2008, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa wrote that «the EU (should) complete building its EMU by strengthening the economic component, which must be founded on a capacity to decide and to act both internally and externally. The debate is not new. Today it must move beyond the semantic dispute about the “economic government”. The independence of the European Central Bank is non-negotiable and will emerge from this turmoil strengthened. This financial crisis demonstrates that coordinated action by member-state governments on economic policy is indispensable and not to the detriment of the ECB. But economic governance has its own agenda and goes beyond meetings of Heads of States and Governments. It is time for this subject to be considered in depth, possibly by an instance similar to the ‘Delors Committee’ of 1988, which would deal with economic, fiscal and socials dimensions of the EMU.» (European Steering Committee, Proposal by Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, President of Notre Europe, 7- 8 November 2008)

A first overview of Notre Europe’s publications about economic affairs is available here (from 1997 to 2007)