Michele Chang

College of Europe · European Political and Governance Studies

The year 2019 ushered in the end of an era for the European Central Bank when Mario Draghi stepped down as ECB President. The financial crisis left a legacy of central banks as “the only game in town”. The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the role of central banks as critical firefighters during crises, in contrast to earlier periods. This contribution...

This contribution applies the theoretical framework developed by Schoeller and Falkner (this issue) to the case of Belgium. First, it examines Belgium’s preferences and the status quo before and after the financial crisis, juxtaposed against Germany’s preferred outcomes. Belgium has traditionally favoured more integration, leading to Belgium’s stra...

This chapter explores the provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement on the financial settlement — the money the UK shall pay to the EU in connection to its departure. The financial settlement for the withdrawal of the UK from the EU posed numerous challenges to both parties. For the UK, internal divisions in the ruling Conservative party made it diffi...

This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the withdrawal agreement concluded between the United Kingdom and the European Union to create the legal framework for Brexit. Building on a prior volume, it overviews the process of Brexit negotiations that took place between the UK and the EU from 2017 to 2019. It also examines the key provis...

At the start of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the ECB’s sui generis nature as one of the most independent central banks of an entity lacking political union evoked concerns that it would be both too constrained (limited mandate) and enjoy too much discretion (limited ex-post accountability) in comparison to central banks like the US Federal Re...

This volume focuses on the aftermath of the euro crisis and whether the reforms have brought about lasting changes to the economic and political structures of the crisis countries or if the changes were short-term and easily abandoned post-bailout and post-recovery. Starting with an analysis of the state of euro area governance at the onset of the...

The European Central Bank is one of the most independent central banks in the world, but this independence is also highly constrained: the Maastricht Treaty established a primary mandate to pursue price stability and prohibited it from engaging in monetary financing. Using an historical institutional framework, this article analyses the ECB’s uncon...

A decade after the outbreak of the euro crisis, enough time has passed to assess its impact on EU economic governance. This Special Issue aims to identify the institutional dynamics that have occurred since the crisis by using methodological approaches that reflect the rising complexity of decision-making under Economic and Monetary Union. The ambi...

This chapter contrasts the European Parliament’s (EP’s) Monetary Dialogue with the European Central Bank with the (relatively) new Economic Dialogue, a forum launched in 2011 to promote greater transparency and accountability in relation to European Union (EU) economic governance. It charts the creation of the Monetary Dialogue and the Economic Dia...

The article by Susanne Lütz et al. looks at the troika (now sometimes referred to as the 'quadriga' to include the European Stability Mechanism) institutions that were charged to oversee the conditionality programs of countries that sought official assistance. It notes how the three institutions very often conflicted on the policy conditionalities...

This contribution begins with a summary of the current state of euro area governance in the context of crisis management, the European semester, and banking union in order to appreciate the ramification of consolidating some of these roles into a single post. It continues with an overview of how thinking about a European Finance Minister has change...

The European Central Bank enjoys a large degree of independence due to the academic and policy consensus that independent central banks achieve better results in the pursuit of price stability. Since the global financial crisis, however, ECB activities now includes broader objectives with redistributive consequences. How can we explain this mission...

Although the United Kingdom obtained an optout from Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), its departure from the European Union (EU) will have important effects on EMU’s development. > These effects will be felt through three primary channels: First, Brexit will create more pressure on the euro-outs to adopt the euro; Second, it will alter existing al...

The European Central Bank enjoys a large degree of independence due to the academic and policy consensus that independent central banks achieve better results in the pursuit of price stability. Since the 1999 founding of the ECB, however, the academic consensus has changed: no longer is European central banking limited to conventional monetary poli...

Although the U.K. negotiated an opt-out from economic and monetary union (EMU) in the Maastricht Treaty, its departure from the EU will have an impact on EMU in the following ways: changing economic conditions that alter incentives for euro area governance reform; altering alliances, particularly between the euro ins and euro outs; and shifting pol...

The European Central Bank enjoys a large degree of independence due to the academic and policy consensus that independent central banks achieve better results in the pursuit of price stability. Since the 1999 founding of the ECB, however, the academic consensus has changed: no longer is European central banking limited to conventional monetary poli...

This accessible text on economic and monetary integration provides readers with a comprehensive look at the evolution of the eurozone, from its beginnings in fixed exchange rate systems through the sovereign debt crisis. It examines why the EMU was created, what went wrong to bring about the global financial crisis, and why countries were affected...

The European Central Bank’s prominence and activities have risen considerably since the onset of the global financial crisis. In order to understand the expansion of the ECB’s competences and responsibilities, this paper uses a neofunctional framework to see how the ECB extended its influence in the following areas: lender of last resort (non-conve...

This article applies the governance typology used in this special issue to the evolution of euro area governance. The article begins with a description of Economic and Monetary Union's original governance structure, with third order governance (shared norms) present in varying degrees in monetary, financial and fiscal governance. While a shared con...

In June 2012 the European Council announced its intention to form a banking union. Just two years later (lightning speed by EU standards), the European Central Bank assumed supervision of 120 major euro area banks, which Mario Draghi referred to as the “biggest step of European Economic integration since the inception of the euro.” This marked the...

The behaviour of sovereign bond investors stands at the heart of the euro area debt crisis. By pushing upward the yields on the government debts of member states standing in the eurozone’s periphery, investors caused, in a self-fulfilling way, the crisis that ultimately threatened the eurozone’s integrity and the euro’s survival. So how do we expla...

The global financial crisis and sovereign debt crisis exposed the inadequacy of European economic governance. Despite the multitude of new mechanisms and institutions that have arisen over the last few years, many contend that economic governance remains inadequate and the EU must integrate even further to calm still-volatile markets. A tension exi...

The global financial and sovereign debt crises led to the creation of numerous new agreements and institutions to contain the current crisis and prevent future ones. These measures reinforce the historical trend towards the predominance of intergovernmental decision-making in economic and monetary union (EMU), going so far as to re-intergovernmenta...

The European Union’s internal market has been at the heart of the integration process since the Treaty of Rome. The 2004 Services draft Directive (known as the Bolkestein proposal) launched an avalanche of protest despite substantial purported economic gains. A proper appreciation of the Services Directive requires a tri‐disciplinary approach, whic...

The Chamber of Representatives of the Belgian Parliament asked the permanent professors of the College of Europe to write brief papers for a conference organized in honour of the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. The objective of these papers was to highlight the main challenges facing the European Union in four different issue areas (Lisbon...

[From the Introduction]. The first part of this article looks at the bases of the EU’s legitimacy in general and EMU’s legitimacy in particular. Much of the EU’s legitimacy rests on output legitimacy, and the expected output of EMU was price stability and greater competitiveness, based on economic theories of the importance of price stability and i...

The Stability and Growth Pact, originally designed to protect the integrity of monetary union based on price stability and fiscal discipline, has created a rift between states and institutions. Larger states like Germany and France have repeatedly violated the terms of the pact, while smaller states like the Netherlands and Austria have steadfastly...

What drives monetary integration? Countries can participate in a variety of systems, ranging from general statements of support for economic cooperation and policy coordination, to the extreme case of monetary union. A fixed-but-adjustable exchange rate peg like the EMS fell in between these two poles by offering participants some flexibility. In t...

Italy, unlike France, was never able to pass off the cost of devaluation to other countries. Though the size of the Italian economy was roughly in the same league as that of the French, Italy never assumed a similar leadership position within the EC. On the contrary, Italy was typically on the receiving end of devaluation request, though this has n...

The elections studied in this chapter took place during the early years of the EMS, when its norms and purpose were still developing. Over time countries adjusted their domestic economic policies in order to conform to the demands of EMS participation, but during the first few years of operation most countries prioritized domes-tic concerns, and re...

This chapter serves as a continuation of chapter 4 and covers the French elections that fell into the second half of the history of the EMS. The French story has been divided in half not only for issues of length but also because of the important changes that took place in French politics and European integration that altered the nature of monetary...

The effect of political transitions on market expectations of a currency’s value offers analysts a clear example of how domestic politics can impact international relations. Changes in government can lead to currency volatility that can spread to other countries not involved in the original crisis. This could necessitate exchange rate intervention...

European monetary integration has been a search for market credibility through various means: first, through international cooperation in the shape of the pooling of resources in the EMS; second, through the emulation of the successful German model; and finally, through economic and monetary union. By analyzing the history of European monetary inte...

The Irish case presents many of the same challenges to electoral-based theories of currency crises as Italy. In both countries, government coalitions typically defy partisan labels, making partisan theories of currency crises irrelevant. In addition, both countries often find themselves at the receiving end of devaluation requests from larger count...

Although European Monetary Union led to the creation of one of the world's most independent central banks, politics has not been removed from monetary integration. The European Central Bank's primary claim to legitimacy rests with its ability to deliver low inflation and presumably higher growth. Its independence may be insufficient for this task,...

The structure of the paper will be as follows: first, I will review the literature on the German Dominance Hypothesis. Next, I argue that European monetary integration progressed during a period of dual hegemony rather than straight German leadership. I demonstrate this through case studies of seminal events leading up to monetary integration: the...

The Chamber of Representatives of the Belgian Parliament asked the permanent professors of the College of Europe to write brief papers for a conference organized in honour of the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. The objective of these papers was to highlight the main challenges facing the European Union in four different issue areas (Lisbon...

[From the Introduction]. In March 2000 the European Council launched the Lisbon strategy, the purpose of which was to create “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion." This paper will trace the development of the Lisbon strate...