EMU Rules: The Political and Economic Consequences of European Monetary Integration

This collective volume explores issues of economic and political governance in the European Monetary Union. Combining the perspectives of economics, law, political science and historical research, it provides an up-to-date analysis of the development of the Eurozone and assesses the prospects for the economic and political sustainability of the euro.Based on the revised proceedings of the First Alumni Conference of the European University Institute, Florence, in 2003, the contributors discuss the problem of democratic governance and an alleged democratic deficit in the Eurozone in the wake of the failure of the EU Constitutional Treaty. A further focus is the future of macro-economic cooperation in the framework of the recently reformed Stability and Growth Pact. Will the Eurozone members be able to harmonize their policies so as to avoid a progressive weakening of economic coordination? The third part of the volume deals with the role of the euro as international currency, in particular with regard to the dollar, and as regional anchor for countries in geographical proximity to the EU.