Ruling Europe: The Politics of the Stability and Growth Pact

by Martin Heipertz , Amy Verdun , Foreword by Jean-Claude Juncker

• ISBN13: 9780521197502
• ISBN10: 0521197503
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-04-30
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) is central to Economic and Monetary Union in Europe (EMU). Initiated by Germany in 1995 and adopted in 1997, it regulates the fiscal policies of European Union Member States. Following numerous violations of its deficit reference value, the Pact's Excessive Deficit Procedure was suspended in 2003. The decision to suspend was brought before the European Court of Justice in 2004 and then the SGP underwent painstaking reform in 2005. After a period of economic prosperity and falling budgetary deficits, the global economic crisis is putting the system under renewed stress. Ruling Europe presents the first comprehensive analysis of the political history of the Stability and Growth Pact as the cornerstone of Economic and Monetary Union. It examines the SGP through different theoretical lenses, offering a fascinating study of European integration and institutional design. One cannot understand the euro without first understanding the SGP.

Table of Contents

List of tables	p. viii
Foreword	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
List of abbreviations	p. xvi
The politics of the Stability and Growth Pact	p. 1
States, intergovernmentalism and negotiating the SGP	p. 19
Opening the box: A domestic politics approach to the SGP	p. 42
The functional logic behind the SGP	p. 64
The role of experts and ideas	p. 85
Implementation of the SGP in good and in bad times	p. 113
From bad times to crisis	p. 128
The SGP before the European Court of Justice	p. 154
The SGP in times of financial turbulence and economic crisis	p. 174
Conclusion: The past, present and future of the SGP and implications for European integration theory	p. 196
Appendix	p. 205
Bibliography	p. 296
Index	p. 311
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