Tag: EMU

EU heads of states are meeting in Brussels on 13-14 December to hammer out an agreement on banking supervision and set out a longer-term roadmap to deepen the eurozone's economic and political integration. A new round of treaty changes and a dedicated budget for the eurozone are all on the agenda.

An impasse over plans for the European Central Bank to supervise banks takes centre stage today (12 December) at a finance ministers' meeting that precedes the EU leadership summit on Thursday and Friday.

Social convergence should be a key consideration as member states embark on a new round of integration to complete the EMU, otherwise it will result in an intensification of competition between them and social dumping, writes Maria João Rodrigues.

A Franco-German proposal to sanction eurozone budget sinners by stripping them of their EU voting rights faces massive opposition from other countries in the bloc, it emerged after a two-day summit in Brussels on Friday (29 October).

Eurozone economic sentiment rose strongly in July, buoyed by figures from Germany that point to a recovery as the currency area overcomes the sovereign debt crisis, though the outlook remains uncertain.

In accordance with the provisions of the Maastricht Treaty, all new members of the European Union are eligible and compelled to join the bloc's single currency, the euro. Of the twelve member states that joined the Union between 2004 and 2007, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta and Slovakia have fulfilled the convergence criteria and are now part of the euro area. 

Economists Daniel Gros, Thomas Mayer and Angel Ubide argue that a combination of slow growth, inadequate policy responses and newly emerging intra-area divergences are putting Economic and Monetary Union at risk.

This paper reassess the short-run consequences of fiscal policy, providing evidence that consumption reacts in a non-linear fashion to discretionary fiscal policy changes also in transition economies.

This paper attempts to evaluate wage rigidity related to risks of increased size and volatility of unemployment after the candidate countries enter the EMU.

This paper reports the progress of nominal and real convergence of Spain, Portugal and Greece during their accession to the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

This paper analyses the link between forthcoming EU enlargement and selected aspects of EU institutional reforms, namely decision making rules in the European Central Bank and the status of the Eurogroup.

All future members of the European Union will be eligible to join the European single currency, the euro, in accordance with the provisions of the Maastricht Treaty. The ten countries that are due to join the EU on 1 May 2004 have all expressed interest in joining the eurozone at the earliest possible time. However, monetary integration may take longer for some future members, notably Poland and Hungary, whose budget deficits are deteriorating while unemployment is soaring. The future members will also have to make further efforts toward catching up to EU levels of income per capita, which requires hard work in the area of labour markets and fiscal policy reform.

Two new Commission studies state that low starting debt levels and expected high GDP growth constitute favourable conditions for the future EU members' medium-term fiscal sustainability.

Caio Koch-Weser, Chairman of the EU's Economic and Financial Committee, has warned the future EU Member States that their plans to join the single currency were too optimistic.

This analysis argues that the future EU Member States should be given two options regarding the euro: either early euroization or the Swedish-type oblivion of ERM.

The paper argues that more convergence of business cycles will be needed in the enlarged eurozone.

The paper argues that the official proposal to reform the composition of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank is so flawed that the status quo would be preferable. It author also gives an alternative to the ECB proposal.

The accession of several Central and Eastern European Countries to Euroland is likely to be realised within the next years and it is an important issue to assess whether these candidates are prepared for EMU membership better or worse than the current participants.

The paper discusses the framework of Exchange Rate Mechanism II and its suitability for accession countries.

The Commission on 8 January gave Germany until 21 May to act on cutting its "excessive" deficit and reprimanded France for its "lack of ambition" in its 2002-2006 stability programme.

The European Banking Federation (EBF) has called on the EU to impose longer transition periods to prepare the candidate countries for membership of the eurozone. In a paper, released on 4 February, the EBF warned that a rapid enlargement of the eurozone would be at the expense of real convergence and economic growth in the new Member States.