Understanding Emu Asymmetries and Their Economic and Political Implications

Abstract

The Covid-19 emergency makes the seriousness of the unsolved political and economic issues that emerged during the European sovereign debt crisis even more evident. Today more than ever it is necessary to answer questions related to the fragility of the EMU architecture: why was the EMU created with an asymmetric structure? What was the role of EMU architecture and European policies during the crisis? Do EMU asymmetries threaten the survival of the Eurozone? The European integration process took place on the basis of a permissive consensus determined by the expectation of successful economic outcomes, without a true democratic legitimacy. Under such conditions, a fiscal and political union was not possible. The EMU proved to be a competitive arena, within which economic and political asymmetries were difficult to manage. An analysis of these asymmetries allows conclusions to be drawn regarding the risks associated with further economic and institutional integration.

The European core–periphery divide: towards a new narrative

“…It must be recognized that these imbalances were not created by the crisis but are a feature of the EMU architecture (Casagrande 2021). From the beginning 'the Euro Area represented an ambitious and bold political commitment to the promotion of European unification, an affirmation of the importance of political leadership, above all by France and Germany' (Dyson/Maes 2016: 1).…”