Monetary Sovereignty in Context of European Integrations

Monetary sovereignty allows control over national monetary policy, exchange rate and currency circulation and is a sign of national central banks’ independence. It is an instrument for fulfilling national economy goals and, especially in small countries, is an ultimate part of national sovereignty (like the hymn or national flag).On the other hand, the process of (European) monetary unification requires from member countries to transfer their national sovereignty to a supranational level. The monetary policy than becomes a “one-size-fits-all” and is oriented towards common goals, putting national interests to the second place. The common opinion, especially in transition countries, is that entering European economic and monetary union is their final and ultimate goal that requires long term, committed fulfilling of rigorous criteria. But, the recent crises throughout European monetary union can be discouraging for accession countries, while the common monetary policy is confronting serious difficulties.This paper analyses recognition on monetary sovereignty in context of European integrations on a sample of student population for the final years of undergraduate study at Faculties of Economics and Business in Zagreb (Croatia) and Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Our aim was to explore their perception of both monetary sovereignty and European integrations in turbulent circumstances of global financial crisis. The study was based on a questionnaire and, oriented primary to the qualitative explanations, included also the ranking of given (dis)advantages of the sovereignty and integrations on a given scale.