Challenges for the euro area [What Think Tanks are thinking]

Written by Marcin Grajewski,

The discussion on how to deepen and improve the functioning of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) continues on several fronts. Issues under discussion include euro-area governance, the role of the European Central Bank (ECB), the fiscal rules, debt-mutualisation, risk-sharing, and the nature of, and political compromises between, French and German perspectives within the system. The dispute between Italy and the European Commission over the former’s budget for 2019 is now a major topic for discussion at Eurogroup meetings, as are Banking Union and the sustainability of economic growth, notably in light of the expected tapering of the ECB’s bond-purchase programme. In a separate development, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has proposed increasing the international role of the euro, which some analysts say could replace the US dollar in certain international transactions, given the volatility of US economic policies.

This note brings together commentaries, analyses and studies by major international think tanks and research institutes on challenges facing the euro area and related issues. Earlier publications on the topic can be found in a previous edition of ‘What Think Tanks are Thinking’ published in June 2018.

Euro area reform: An anatomy of the debate
Centre for Economic Policy Research, Bruegel, November 2018

Steuer über Bord? Die schwierige Debatte um eine EU-Digitalsteuer
Jacques Delors Institute Berlin, November 2018

European fiscal rules require a major overhaul
Bruegel, October 2018

Commission rejection of Italian budget may be justified, but what comes next?
Centre for European Policy Studies, October 2018

A better European Union architecture to fight money laundering
Bruegel, October 2018

Europe’s search for a safe asset
Peterson Institute for International Economics, October 2018

A European safe asset? Perceptions from France and Germany
Jacques Delors Institute Berlin, Bertelsman Stiftung, October 2018

The international use of the euro: What can we learn from past examples of currency internationalisation?
Bruegel, October 2018

The Italian budget: A case of contractionary fiscal expansion?
Peterson Institute for International Economics, October 2018

Reform of the international monetary system and new global economic governance: How the EU may contribute
Egmont, October 2018

The problem is not EU’s fiscal rules, but Italy’s economic strategy
LUISS School of European Political Economy, October 2018

Should central European EU members join the euro zone?
Bruegel, September 2018

Financial stability implications of increasing interest rates
Centre for European Policy Studies, September 2018

High public debt in euro-area countries: Comparing Belgium and Italy
Bruegel, September 2018

Europe’s payments revolution: Stimulating payments innovation while protecting consumer privacy
Centre for European Policy Studies, September 2018

The German government’s strategy for the euro area in view of Italy’s instability
LUISS School of European Political Economy, September 2018

Italien als Belastungsprobe für den Euroraum
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, September 2018

Excess liquidity and bank lending risks in the euro area
Bruegel, September 2018

ESM reform: No need to reinvent the wheel
Jacques Delors Institut, Bertelsmann Stiftung, August 2018

Italian risk spreads: Fiscal versus redenomination risk
Centre for European Policy Studies, August 2018

Real and imagined constraints on euro area monetary policy
Peterson Institute for International Economics, August 2018

Recovery and Resolution of CCPs: Obsessing over regulatory symmetry?
Centre for European Policy Studies, August 2018

Greek bailout: IMF and Europeans diverge on lessons learnt
Chatham House, August 2018

The German barrier to a global euro
European Council on Foreign Relations, August 2018

A supervisory architecture fit for CMU: Aiming at a moving target?
Centre for European Policy Studies, August 2018

Les raisons du ’miracle portugais’
Institut Thomas More, August 2018

Le futur de la zone euro: Perspective croisée franco-allemande
Institut Jacques Delors, July 2018

Sovereign debt restructuring: Rules versus discretion
LUISS School of European Political Economy, July 2018

L’urgence d’une réforme de la fiscalité en Europe
Confrontations Europe, July 2018

ECB non-standard policies and collateral constraints
Centre for European Policy Studies, July 2018

The future of the Economic and Monetary Union
Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies, Clingendael, June 2018

The Meseberg declaration and euro-zone reform
Bruegel, June 2018

Towards a more resilient euro area
Centre for European Policy Studies, June 2018

Is the European Semester effective and useful?
Bruegel, June 2018

How to exit the euro in a nutshell: ‘Il Piano Savona’
Centre for European Policy Studies, June 2018

Comment consolider la zone euro?
Fondation Robert Schuman, June 2018

Economic convergence as the cornerstone of EMU resilience
LSE Ideas, June 2018

The future of the European Central Bank
LSE Ideas, June 2018

It’s business models, stupid!
Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft, June 2018

A review on ESBies: The senior tranche of sovereign bond-backed securities
Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, June 2018

Welcher Weg zur Euro-Reform?
Heinrich Böll Stiftung, June 2018

Fiscal implications of the ECB´s Public Sector Purchase Programme
Institut für Weltwirtschaft Kiel, June 2018

A stabilization fund can make the euro area more crisis-proof
Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, June 2018

Read this briefing on ‘Challenges for the euro area‘ on the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.