The Financial Constitution of European Integration : Follow the Money?

Abstract

This open access book delivers a much-needed analysis of the interplay between the EU’s financial constitution and European integration.

The economic rescue package NextGenerationEU has multiplied the EU’s financial volume and thereby raised the question of the state of European integration anew. This open access book ‘follows the money’ and surveys the financial constitution of European integration from the perspective of law, political economy, and history.

Structured into three thematic parts, the book focuses on past and present developments of the fiscal structure of the EU as well as potential future outcomes. It raises an array of questions that are answered from different disciplinary perspectives and through the eyes of academia and practice: Can underlying design flaws of the European Monetary Union be identified? What about the legality and the economic implications of the innovative policy-making at the EU level in response to the COVID-19 pandemic? What do these reflections on the EU financial constitution reveal about the development of European integration as a whole?