Private Sector Involvement in the Euro: The Power of Ideas

by Collignon,Stefan

• ISBN13: 9780415301756
• ISBN10: 0415301750
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-01-16
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This fresh look at how the EMU came about, challenges a number of well-established intergration theories. It shows that European integration is not only the work of governments and supranational institutions but the result of more subtle processes involving the emerging European civil society. The model on the power of ideas suggested in this book is applied to the work and impact of the two NGOs but has explanatory power for the process of European integration which goes well beyond the limits of this empirical study. This book will interest students, researchers and policymakers with an interest in Europe and its monetary union.

Author Biography

Stefan Collignon is Professor of European Political Economy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	xi
Acknowledgements	xiii
Abbreviations	xv
Introduction: public consensus and EMU	1	(29)
Grasping actors beyond the state	5	(7)
Lobbies and civil society in the EU	5	(1)
Private-sector agency	6	(2)
An epistemic community for EMU	8	(4)
Research on EMU: state of the art	12	(9)
Liberal intergovernmentalism	12	(3)
Neo-functionalism	15	(1)
Models of preference formation	16	(2)
Constructivism	18	(3)
Consensus and the construction of social reality	21	(9)
Explaining the integration process: epistemological foundations	21	(1)
Desires and preferences	22	(2)
Institutions as social facts	24	(1)
Explaining the integration process: preference formation and consensus	25	(2)
How epistemic communities create consensus	27	(1)
The plan of the book	28	(2)
Foundations	30	(31)
The origins of the Giscard-Schmidt Committee (CMUE)	30	(7)
A window of opportunity	32	(3)
Learning from Jean Monnet	35	(2)
A joint Grand Strategy	37	(4)
An equilibrium model for European integration	38	(2)
The balance of power strategy	40	(1)
Institutions for monetary stability	41	(1)
The Committee's ideas and activities	41	(12)
Promoting the Ecu	44	(5)
Historic flashback: France, Germany, and the demise of Bretton Woods	49	(3)
The weaknesses of bloc floating	52	(1)
The Association for the Monetary Union of Europe (AMUE)	53	(8)
The need for dialogue with the private sector	53	(1)
Gathering support	54	(3)
Structures and objectives	57	(4)
A common or a single currency?	61	(33)
Hopes and doubts about the Ecu	61	(5)
Business and the Ecu	61	(2)
Educating the private sector	63	(1)
First scepticism towards the Ecu	63	(2)
The need for a political approach	65	(1)
Delors' ambivalence	66	(11)
New stability in the EMS	66	(1)
Economic reasons for monetary integration	66	(1)
Balladur's and Genscher's memorandum	67	(1)
The Delors Report	68	(1)
An independent European Central Bank	69	(3)
Rejecting a parallel currency	72	(2)
The private sector and the Delors Report	74	(1)
One market, one money	75	(2)
A strategy for the Ecu	77	(11)
Early business views on EMU	77	(1)
Obstacles to using the Ecu	78	(1)
A British counter-proposal	79	(2)
The study	81	(2)
The AMUE's message	83	(1)
A question of credibility	84	(2)
The Strategy's reception	86	(1)
Geostrategic accelerations	87	(1)
Interrogations	88	(6)
Giscard's doubts	88	(2)
The UK's hard Ecu proposal	90	(2)
Political sensitivities	92	(2)
The crises and the Phoenix	94	(50)
The Maastricht Treaty	94	(20)
Pre-structing the negotiations	94	(1)
Setting a date in the Treaty	95	(6)
Who will ratify?	101	(3)
The Danish referendum	104	(1)
The French referendum	105	(1)
Linking with the CNPF	106	(3)
Ratification in Italy	109	(1)
Pushing practical preparations	110	(1)
The external consequences of the single currency	111	(2)
Central and Eastern Europe	113	(1)
The European Monetary System in crisis	114	(15)
A short history of the EMS	114	(4)
The Danish credibility shock	118	(1)
The German unification shock	119	(1)
The dollar shock	120	(1)
The demise of the hard EMS	120	(2)
EMU's loss of credibility	122	(1)
Reinforced political commitment	123	(2)
The problem with the United Kingdom	125	(1)
Ups and downs for the AMUE	126	(1)
Reporting to the European Parliament	127	(2)
Preparing the changeover	129	(15)
Two reports frame the issue	130	(2)
An expert group on the transition scenario	132	(1)
The Commission's strategic re-launch	133	(1)
The Green Book's scenarios	134	(3)
Pinning down the transition scenario in Madrid	137	(3)
Launching communication on the single currency	140	(2)
The Phoenix flies - into a new storm	142	(2)
Campaigning for EMU	144	(50)
The populist temptation	144	(15)
European populism	145	(2)
Structural transformations and populist ideology	147	(1)
The single market and new populism	148	(5)
Economic and political criticism of EMU	153	(2)
The AMUE's communication strategy	155	(4)
German dissensus over EMU	159	(11)
The nature of scepticism in the German public	160	(2)
The Social Democrats' problem with monetary union	162	(1)
Training members of the European Parliament	163	(2)
Social-democratic arguments for the euro	165	(3)
The Kohl government and the CDU	168	(2)
Convergence and dissent in Europe	170	(12)
Eccezionalismo Italiano	170	(3)
Italian adjustment	173	(2)
The leap	175	(3)
The Stability and Growth Pact	178	(2)
Three per cent is 3.0	180	(1)
French-German dissent	181	(1)
Mediating across the borders	182	(12)
The Sustainability report	182	(2)
Broad public campaigns	184	(2)
Helping companies change over to the euro	186	(6)
The need for further integration	192	(2)
Epilogue	194	(5)
Annexe 1 Introduction	199	(6)
Annexe 2 The crises and the Phoenix	205	(2)
Annexe 3 Campaigning for EMU	207	(2)
Annexe 4 List of interviewees	209	(2)
Annexe 5 List of expert groups	211	(4)
Annexe 6 List of former AMUE board members	215	(2)
Notes	217	(25)
Bibliography	242	(11)
Name index	253	(8)
Subject index	261