Failing Better? Member State Sovereignty Concerns and the European Union’s Inability to Create a Durable Fiscal Policy

The purpose of this chapter is to reflect on the role of sovereignty concerns in the development of European fiscal policy. It is the argument of this chapter that such concerns have marked the shape of economic and monetary union from the very beginning, that they have had a restrictive effect on the development of the currency union and that even now they continue to play a major retarding role and indeed seem likely to continue to do so. In making this argument, the author traces the evolution of Eurozone fiscal policy from the time of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 right up to the most recent reforms.