Overview of EMU

Λεπτομερής ανάλυση 15-06-2016

This note focusses on selected policy issues as outlined in the Five Presidents’ Report and which are relevant for parliamentary work. The note provides an overview of the main steps undertaken and of the proposals planned to make EMU more resilient to shocks by addressing the policy and governance challenges unveiled by the financial crisis. These include: i) labour and product market reforms to rise long-term productivity and growth; ii) financial integration (Banking Union) to improve market confidence in banks, stabilize financial markets, eliminate fragmentation and cut the sovereign-bank negative feedback; iii) plans for a Capital Market Union to enhance market-based financing to the economy, diversify the sources of financing, thereby spreading the impact and risks of financial shocks; iv) plans for a Fiscal Union or fiscal capacity as a macroeconomic stabilization tool against income shocks. Fiscal union is politically challenging as it involves ceding even more sovereignty from national levels to the euro-area level and is, therefore, strongly connected with political integration (Political Union). The note is complementary to the document “Institutions and Bodies in the Economic and Monetary Union”, which provides an overview of the governance framework of EMU.