This book offers a critical
perspective from which to observe evolution of the Euro Area and the European
Union in these times of growing economic and political conflict. Key
implications of design failures in the Euro Area (i.e. incorrect diagnostics of
the public finance crisis, single monetary policy failure, heterogeneous
macroeconomic environment, asymmetry in macroeconomic policies, obstacles for
policy coordination) and their contribution to the excessive external and
internal economic imbalances will be critically discussed from the economic,
policy and institutional perspectives. This critical insight is used to examine
both institutional asset and economic performance of Europe after the crisis,
moving from the authors’ shared perspective that the crisis revealed the weak
aspects of the whole architecture of the European Union.
The economic crisis revealed the
existence of different forms of imbalances inside the Eurozone and highlighted
the flaws of the institutional architecture of economic policy in Europe. The
greater fragility of some countries in respect to others has triggered a
backward process in which national interests have started to prevail over those
of both the currency area and the entire European Union. In turn, this has
fuelled a progressive decline in confidence in the European institutions and is
creating growing questions of interpretation both in terms of economic theory
and institutional asset. This book focuses on these issues and on the degree of
legitimacy of the European institutions resulting therefrom. It aims to
investigate the nature and validity of the European integration process
emphasizing limits and challenges arising from it.