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European Monetary Union reform preferences of French and German parliamentarians

Author

Listed:
  • Sebastian Blesse

    (Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, Germany)

  • Pierre C Boyer

    (Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST), École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France)

  • Friedrich Heinemann

    (Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, Germany)

  • Eckhard Janeba

    (Department of Economics, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany)

  • Anasuya Raj

Abstract

We analyze data from an author-conducted survey of members of the French and German parliaments on European Monetary Union reform preferences. We consider three potential drivers of preferences: nationality, ideology, and personal characteristics. For European Monetary Union policies like Eurobonds, the Fiscal Compact, and the European Central Bank asset purchase program we find a robust difference between parliamentarians of both countries if they belong to the same party family and controlling for individual characteristics. Based on our estimates, however, we predict agreement between German left-wingers and French conservatives even for ideological differences that are smaller than the current difference between the left and the right European party families. Our findings suggest that deeply-rooted national differences do not impose a prohibitive obstacle to a German-French parliamentary consensus on European Monetary Union policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Blesse & Pierre C Boyer & Friedrich Heinemann & Eckhard Janeba & Anasuya Raj, 2019. "European Monetary Union reform preferences of French and German parliamentarians," European Union Politics, , vol. 20(3), pages 406-424, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:20:y:2019:i:3:p:406-424
    DOI: 10.1177/1465116519835947
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    Cited by:

    1. Anna-Lena Högenauer, 2021. "Scrutiny or Complacency? Banking Union in the Bundestag and the Assemblée Nationale," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(2), pages 219-229.
    2. Lindner, Vincent & Eckert, Sandra & Nölke, Andreas, 2022. "Political science research on the reasons for the (non) adoption and (non) implementation of EMU reform proposals: The state of the art," SAFE Working Paper Series 339, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    3. Blesse, Sebastian & Bordignon, Massimo & Boyer, Pierre C. & Carapella, Piergiorgio & Heinemann, Friedrich & Janeba, Eckhard & Raj, Anasuya, 2019. "United we stand? Survey results on the views of French, German and Italian parliamentarians on EU and EMU reforms," ZEW policy briefs 1/2019, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Comparative politics; European Monetary Union reforms; elite survey; members of national parliament; policy preferences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • H60 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - General

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