Europejska Unia Gospodarcza i Walutowa – co dalej?
The European Economic and Monetary Union – what next?

Summary/Abstract: The financial crisis, whose outbreak dates back to 2007, has thrown light on the weight of economic integration and European solidarity. This banking and budgetary recession challenged especially the Member States in the euro area. While remedial measures have been undertaken by European institutions, the crisis still unveiled the deficiencies of the system, exposed both by the failure to muster enough will and skill to comply with the adopted treaties, whose provisions demand budgetary discipline, and by the presence of legal loopholes present within the European framework. Whereas some States, driven by their efforts to enter the monetary union, had initially been highly determined to fulfil the Treaty provisions, the subsequent years demonstrated a growing “fatigue” with the budgetary discipline. The turning point, with an adverse effect on compliance with the Treaty provisions, was marked by the European Council’s evading its responsibility to use the available Treaty instruments in respect of France and Germany. With a view to restoring the credibility of the Stability and Growth Pact, its reform was proposed and introduced in 2005. Unfortunately, these amendments have only served to sanction the lack of budgetary discipline among Member States. The subsequent slump in the public finances of Greece and Portugal necessitated a response on the part of the EU, whose intervention via the European Stability Mechanism had not been provided for under the Treaty. The emergence of this institution proved that the established legal framework of the European Economic and Monetary Union had its shortcomings. This was followed by attempts to refine the system by way of adopting five resolutions and a directive (“the Six-Pack”), coupled with two further resolution drafts (“the Two-Pack”). Nevertheless, the new regulations continue to allow a considerable degree of liberty and discretion at each procedural stage. This year in June, the Presidents of the European Council, the European Commission, and the ECB proposed the following directions for the further integration of Economic and Monetary Union: the creation of a banking union, involving the joint supervision, restructuring and liquidation of the banks; and deposit insurance: a fiscal union designed to prevent destabilising fiscal policies from being implemented and to revise them; an economic union to harmonise it with the monetary union by making the union coordination framework more enforceable; and a political union aimed at inviting the EP and national Parliaments to participate in the decision-making process. Analysts view this proposal as being of a revolutionary nature, since it stipulates virtually federal control over budgetary policy. The possibility of issuing euro bonds continues to be a matter of some controversy (Germany stands against it)...

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