Brendan Donnelly, directeur du « Federal Trust » britannique, étudie les solutions pouvant permettre d’instaurer une coopération plus étroite entre la Banque centrale européenne et les gouvernements des Etats membres de la zone euro.
It is clear that the coming years will see a lively discussion within the eurozone to produce a more sophisticated political and economic infrastructure for it, writes Brendan Donnelly in a Federal Trust policy brief entitled ‘No European Constitution, no European flexibility?’. He also says that:
- National governments and political elites are increasingly asking themselves whether the economic benefits and political profile of the euro cannot be improved by a more coherent and visible collaboration between the political component of the eurozone’s governance (the national ministers) and their technical equivalents in the European Central Bank.
- The setting up of the Eurozone Council and recent proposals from the Luxembourg and French governments for a structured dialogue between the Council and the European Central Bank reflect this new, more co-ordinated approach.
- With the passage of time, the unconstrained independence given to the Central Bank in the Treaty of Maastricht is increasingly seen within the Eurozone as a historical anomaly, which may well have generated in recent years a sub-optimal mix of monetary and fiscal policies and certainly failed to provide a transparent structure of political responsibility for the eurozone’s economic management.
Donnelly describes the introduction and functioning of the euro over the past five years as a « remarkable technical success », adding that « occasional speculation about its likely demise has rarely been other than wishful thinking ».
In addition to the idea of developing a more integrative system of political and economic governance for the eurozone as part of a more flexible EU, Donnelly also examines the establishment of a European ‘hard core’ among a limited number of member states and greater use of ‘enhanced co-operation’ along the lines already permitted by the Nice Treaty.
Click here to read the full policy brief by the Federal Trust