Explaining National Preferences on the Fiscalization of the EU

Abstract

The fifth chapter analyses the preferences of the member states regarding the EU’s fiscalization. In doing so, it examines member states’ contributions prepared as part of a debate on a strategic EU document outlining institutional options for the future of the EU, the so-called Five Presidents’ Report. The member states were grouped according to their preferences on fiscalization—to what extent the member states were mentioning a threat as a reason for fiscalization? By listing those arguments, this chapter found many contributions did not mention a threat—the main factor underpinning the hypothesis of this book. However, this is the very reason, it argues, why there is no fiscalization in the EU—the threat emerging from the euro crisis was not perceived by the member states to be large enough to trigger such a fundamental shift in the instruments of integration. As a result, fiscal regulation, and not fiscalization, has been chosen as the main instrument of fiscal integration.