Fiscal policy without a state in EMU?
This book shows that, in the process of Europeanisation, national interests have had a major impact on the formation (uploading) of fiscal policy coordination. It also shows how European fiscal policy coordination has affected national fiscal policies and policy implementation (downloading) in EMU, and how changes in national interests have finally launched the reform process of the original Stability Pact (reuploading), a new phase of Europeanisation. The book demonstrates how the EMU process, originating in the Maastricht Treaty, created a new role for national economic policy with the transfer of monetary authority to an independent European Central Bank. In these circumstances, the second element of economic policy - fiscal policy (including budgetary policy, public finances, taxation and employment policy) - has become a significant instrument in effectively adapting national economies to cyclical global and European environments. However, the credibility of fiscal policy coordination under the Stability Pact has, to say the least, been controversial in EMU.