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  • Blog post
  • 5. května 2017

Can EMU survive a multi-speed Europe?

Bruegel recently organised an event on "Can EMU survive a multi speed Europe?" Guntram B. Wolff, Director of Bruegel, introduced the presentation and briefly went through the different chapters of the Euro Yearbook. 

The Euro Yearbook is a project of the Spanish Financial Studies Foundation and ICO Foundation. The book highlights the consequences of non-conventional monetary policies, reviews the rolling out of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) and the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM), and discusses the different ways to proceed to a fiscal union. The first chapter offers a global overview of monetary union in the world. Chapters 2 and 3 quantify the use of the euro in international trade and financial markets, analysing both the progress and setbacks in the course of European financial integration.

Chapters 4 and 5 are dedicated to monetary policy. Chapter 6, 7 and 8 deal with banking union and, more particularly, the financial stability and policy pursued by the ECB through the twin focus of the SSM and the SRM. Chapters 9 and 10 give a preliminary assessment of the type of fiscal union required in the euro area, and contrast this with the current European institutional fiscal situation. The final chapter reviews the current political situation in the EU following Brexit, and sets out a number of pending institutional reforms.

201705-Fernando Fernández

Fernando Fernández Méndez de Andés, Professor at IE Business School and editor of the Euro Yearbook 2016, noted that the added-value of the book are the different opinions and approaches it includes, which contribute to a varied and rich discussion in the spirit of improving European Monetary Union. 

Fernando Fernández Méndez de Andés considered that it is important to have a stable political environment and then determine the future direction of EMU. He further noted that irreversibility is what makes EMU attractive for its member states. 

He explained that the supervision process is working well, but that we are still a long way from a common policy. We have to work towards strong, single supervision from the ECB to create a more common and horizontal policy.

Finally, Fernando Fernández Méndez de Andés presented his views on how to improve fiscal union.

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