European Integration in Crisis

Despite the current growth speed up and increasing employment within the EU, one can still say that European integration is in crisis: Economic performance of the EU and, in particular, the Euro area has been lagging behind the USA, not to mention other regions of the world. At the same time economic divergence between the member countries of the EMU is posing serious problems. With EU-enlargement and the inclusion of the Middle and Eastern European countries, the degree of nominal and real differences has considerably increased. It is not at all clear whether and how the EU will be able to cope with these differences and the already existing tendencies of divergence among the ‘old’ member states. The chapters in this book cover theoretical, empirical and policical aspects of European integration. Among other topics, this book contains a critical analysis of optimum currency area theory and it is concerned with the theoretical foundations and empirical consequences of the ‘Maastricht Regime’. Monetary, fiscal and wages policies and their coordination within a monetary union are analysed. Some country studies complete the picture.