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Tug of War over Financial Assistance: Which Way Forward for Eurozone Stability Mechanisms?

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  • Moritz Rehm

    (Department of Social Science, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg)

Abstract

This article analyses the development of financial assistance in the Eurozone since 2010. It argues that reforms to instruments and bodies, notably the European Financial Stability Facility, the European Stability Mechanism, and the current Covid-19 recovery fund, are best explained by a re-occurring pattern of negotiations between potential creditors and debtors based on common Eurozone interests and national cost-benefit considerations. Building on a liberal intergovernmentalist approach, this article shows how this pattern influenced the step-by-step reform of financial assistance in the Eurozone. The threat to Eurozone stability served as a constant factor encouraging member states to expand and deepen the assistance formula. Creditors’ cost-benefit considerations were key for retaining disincentives, a limited liability for common debt, and intermediary borrowing and lending within the financing design. However, on the back of common Eurozone interests, debtors were able to push for an increase in assistance, an expansion of assistance into areas of banking sector support, and a softening of moral hazard elements in the more recent Covid-19 pandemic. Due to creditors’ continuous insistence on safeguards and limited burden-sharing, reform outcomes were repeatedly unable to resolve the difficulties at hand.

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  • Moritz Rehm, 2021. "Tug of War over Financial Assistance: Which Way Forward for Eurozone Stability Mechanisms?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(2), pages 173-184.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v:9:y:2021:i:2:p:173-184
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    Cited by:

    1. Moritz Rehm, 2022. "Shocks and Time: The Development of the European Financial Assistance Regime," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(6), pages 1645-1662, November.
    2. Anna-Lena Högenauer & Moritz Rehm, 2021. "Reforming the Institutions of Eurozone Governance," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(2), pages 159-162.
    3. Sébastien Commain, 2021. "‘Don’t Crunch My Credit’: Member State Governments’ Preferences on Bank Capital Requirements," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(2), pages 196-207.
    4. Clément Fontan & David Howarth, 2021. "The European Central Bank and the German Constitutional Court: Police Patrols and Fire Alarms," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(2), pages 241-251.
    5. Aukje van Loon, 2021. "European Financial Governance: FTT Reform, Controversies and Governments’ Responsiveness," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(2), pages 208-218.

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