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Enhancing EMU’s Fiscal Arm: Towards Stronger Regulatory Surveillance

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Abstract

During the crisis, the central control over national fiscal policies has expanded along the lines of the two earlier critical junctures in fiscal surveillance: the Maastricht Treaty and the Stability and Growth Pact. This chapter retraces the process leading to the adoption of this new fiscal surveillance regime and explains the chief policy changes that led to a shift in the vertical power balance between the centre and Member States. By analysing in depth the negotiations of the 6 Pack, of the Fiscal Compact and of the 2 Pack, the chapter uncovers the preferences and strategies of key actors involved across these cases and documents how the reforms resulted in new implementation powers being delegated to the European Commission.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    On this see for example Hodson (2011).

  2. 2.

    Interviewee 22 – Italian Ministry of Finance official.

  3. 3.

    Interviewee 22 – Italian Ministry of Finance official.

  4. 4.

    https://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/117236.pdf

  5. 5.

    Interviewee 20 – Independent analyst.

  6. 6.

    http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+TA+P7-TA-2012-0430+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN

  7. 7.

    https://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/legal/pdf/c_14120120517en00070024.pdf

  8. 8.

    Interviewee 23 – Bank of Italy official.

  9. 9.

    Interviewee 44 – European Commission official.

  10. 10.

    Interviewee 18 – Italian Ministry of Finance official.

  11. 11.

    Interviewee 32 – European Central Bank official.

  12. 12.

    Financial Times, ‘Berlin attacks EU’s easing of austerity demands’, February 28 2014.

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Schlosser, P. (2019). Enhancing EMU’s Fiscal Arm: Towards Stronger Regulatory Surveillance. In: Europe's New Fiscal Union. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98636-4_3

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