The European Republic: Reflections on the Political Economy of a Future Constitution

The European republic is a part of broader project carried out by the Bertelsmann Foundation on the impact of the European Monetary Union (EMU), undertaken in co-operation with the Center for Applied Policy Research at the University of Munich. This wider project, entitled 'The Consequences of the Euro', focuses on the elaboration of startegic concept for modelling a European political system that will be able to live up to the changes as well as the risks involved in handling a common currency. In doing so, both the short and long-term implications of the euro has to be investigated.in the context of building an EU based on freedom and solidarity as well as economic success. Stefan Collingnon's book offers reflaction on the political economy of a future European constitution. It explores in particular the elusive economic na monetary policy mix that is called for withinn the developing framework of European integration. It explores issues of fiscal federalism and subsidiarity, contrastin voluntary policy co-ordination with the case for European governement. It also balances the demands of the Stability and Growth Pact with the embryonic consensualfoundations of a European welfare function. With EMU the Euroepan Union has moved a stage further on the road to an ever closer union. The introduction of the sigle currency, the euro, means the establishment of of a common European monatary policy under the exclusive supervision of the European Centarla bank (ECB). This has deepened economic integration among EMU member states and is likely to further proove the way for Political Union in the EU. However, prospects of future integration need to be explored in the light of continuing national responsibility for fiscal and economic policies. Thus, investigating to move from EMU to a Political Union has to pay attention to a wide ranging set of issues that are both national and supranational in character: institutional arrangements, the mechanism of the European economic, social and financial order, amd the practical workings of EMU as well as the global stance of the EU in monatary and political terms. Stefan Collingnon's book offers reflaction on the political economy of a future European constitution. It explores in particular the elusive economic na monetary policy mix that is called for withinn the developing framework of European integration. It explores issues of fiscal federalism and subsidiarity, contrastin voluntary policy co-ordination with the case for European governement. It also balances the demands of the Stability and Growth Pact with the embryonic consensualfoundations of a European welfare function