Stability and Growth Pact

At a time when the EU most needs to stand together in its response to the crisis, member states have taken to bickering and quarrelling in public. This does not inspire hope for the deeper, fundamental changes to economic governance mechanisms that are urgently required. Without these, the future of both the euro zone and the EU does not look bright.

The EU’s collective response to the crisis exposed serious problems not just with the crisis management apparatus in the Union but also the deficiencies of economic governance during ‘peacetime’. These in turn are the result of not just an absence of technical and legal co-ordination mechanisms but also a lack of political will and leadership.