Attempts of the European Union to Conteina the Financial Crisis

This paper centers on how after banks in mature economies worldwide failed to manage risk and allocating capital properly, both single national and joint efforts of the EU (with special focus on the Eurozone) were channeled to control the deepening financial crisis since September 2008. The paper is analyzing the reasons for the financial crisis, simultaneously reviewing the discussions on the profound changes in the global financial system in recent years focusing on the excess capacities created in the system and their consequences (the more rapid growth in financial assets compared to the growth in global GDP, the new institutional structure, complexity in financial instruments, increased counterparty risks etc.). The evolvement of the crisis is presented. The challenges to the implementation of the USA bail-out program as a response to the crisis are examined. Investigating the common and individual efforts in the EU to control the crisis the decisions of the emergency summit of euro zones nations, the national rescue plans of euro-zone and non-euro-zone countries are studied. The EU stimulus package is evaluated, creating a greater flexibility of Eurozone countries with the Stability and Growth Pact, showing the big differences in the fiscal stances of individual countries, their impact on the contributions to the plan, and the heterogeneity of measures to be applied. Special attention has been put on the recapitalization schemes, the issue on state aid and their long-term impact within the EU. The outcomes of the meeting of G20 are also considered. On the basis of the study main concluding remarks have been drawn.