Euros and Europeans: Monetary Integration and the European Model of Society

Cambridge University Press, 10/14/2004
EAN 9780521835701, ISBN10: 0521835704

Hardcover, 398 pages, 23.1 x 15.7 x 2.8 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English

Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is one of the most important developments in modern European politics. Building on two decades of monetary integration it transfers monetary policy, a core function of the modern state, to an independent European Central Bank (ECB) and limits member states' fiscal policy discretion. The ECB insists that growth and employment depend on ‘flexibilizing’ Europe's labor markets through deep reforms of the social policies and employment relations which comprise the ‘European social model’. Member states retain authority over these areas at the heart of national politics, but how will EMU affect the domestic politics of institutional change? Will EMU reinforce de-regulation and retrenchment or will it facilitate reforms that maintain the protections against economic insecurity, inequality, and unilateral employer power the European model has provided? To address these questions, a transatlantic team of leading experts analyzes the evolving tensions between monetary integration and national social policies.

1. Introduction Andrew Martin and George Ross; 2. The EMU macroeconomic policy regime and the European social model Andrew Martin; 3. Shaping a polity in an Economic and Monetary Union: the EU in comparative perspective Alberta Sbragia; 4. Monetary integration and the French model George Ross; 5. EMU and German welfare capitalism Nico A. Siegel; 6. Maastricht to modernization: EMU and the Italian social state Vincent Della Sala; 7. Constraint or motor? Monetary integration and the construction of a social model in Spain Sofia A. Pérez; 8. The Netherlands: monetary integration and the polder model Jos De Beus; 9. Belgium: monetary integration and precarious federalism Philippe Pochet; 10. The political dynamics of external empowerment: the emergence of EMU and the challenge to the European social model Kevin Featherstone; 11. Welfare reform in the shadow of EMU Anton Hemerijick and Maurizio Ferrera; 12. Industrial relations in EMU: are re-nationization and Europeanization two sides of the same coin? Jon Erik Dolvik; 13. Conclusion Andrew Martin and George Ross.

'For those interested in the development of the EU it is essential reading.' The Sprout