Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
RecoveryoftheEurozoneandaNewDynamicinEuropeanIntegration…
Eveniftheireconomicrationalewasnotentirelywithoutcontroversy,3
theseconsiderationsdidnotcomeoutofnowhere,andtheywereaugmented
byfactorsexogenoustothecountriesinquestion,especiallytheeurozone’s
pooreconomiccondition,thestrongpoliticalandeconomicpositionwhich
non-membersenjoyedwithintheEU,andthelowpoliticalriskofstayingout
ofthemonetaryunion(duetoageneralstagnationinintegrationprocesses).
Inthebeginningofthedecade,theeurozonewasnotparticularly
attractiveforpotentialcandidates.Intheyearsfollowingtheeconomic
andfinancialcrisisitwobbledonthebrinkofdisintegration,tornbyrising
economicasymmetriesandpoliticalconflictbetweenthoseofitsmembers
whopreferredstringentausterityandthoseseekingdebtreductionandan
expansionaryfiscalpolicy.4Thiscoincidedwithpooreconomicperformance
comparedtotheEUmemberstatesoutsidetheeurozone,asmarkedby
lowGDPgrowthandhighunemployment(Figures1,2,3).Giventhese
considerableuncertainties,itwouldbehardtoexpectcandidatestostepup
theirpreparations,andstillhardertohopeforachangeinthepositionofthose
withopt-outstatus.Neitherdidtheeurozoneregardacceleratedenlargement
asitspriority,especiallyafter2011,whenitfacedthethreatofdisintegration
sparkedoffbyadeepcrisisinGreece.
Additionally,EUMemberStatesoutsidetheeurozoneaccountedformore
thanaquarteroftheEU’stotalGDPandhadthepotentialtoprotecttheir
interestsandeffectivelylimittheriskofmarginalisationwithintheEU,as
aresultofwhichtheirconditioncouldnotbeignoredwheneconomicpolicy
directionswerebeingestablishedforthewholebloc.Thesecountriesalso
formedalargegroupwithconsiderableweightontheEuropeanCounciland
CounciloftheEU,representing32.5%oftheEU’stotalpopulation,justshy
ofmeetingthefirstcriterionforablockingminority(35%ofEUinhabitants).5
Clearly,theyalsocomprisedmorethanthefourMemberStateminimum
3
Therearemanybenefitsofasinglecurrency,suchasanendtoexchange-raterisksin
economicrelationswithmonetaryunionmembers,lowertransactioncosts,reduced
speculationandeasieraccesstocapital.
4
Amongpublicationsaboutthisperiod,thefollowingshouldbepointedoutinparticular:
M.Blyth,Austerity:TheHistoryofaDangerousIdea,OxfordUniversityPress,2013;
M.E.Sandbu,Europe’sOrphan:TheFutureoftheEuroandthePoliticsofDebt,Princeton
UniversityPress,2015;J.E.Stiglitz,TheEuroandItsThreattotheFutureofEurope,
AllenLane,2016;M.K.Brunnermeier,H.James,J.-P.Landau,TheEuroandtheBattle
ofIdeas,PrincetonUniversityPress,2016;T.Piketty,S.Lorenzer,DieSchlachtumden
Euro:Interventionen,Online-Ausg,C.H.Beck,2015.
5
BasedonEurostatdatafor2016.
ThePolishQuarterlyofInternationalAffairs,2017,no.2
9
