Monetary Union, economic coordination and democratic legitimacy

Since the outbreak of the financial, economic and budgetary crisis, we have been witnessing a potentially radical change in the mode of governance of the euro zone. Amid the state of emergency decreed by the financial markets, a series of innovations – institutional, political, procedural, etc. – have been implemented by the European and national political actors.

This ETUI Policy Brief, written by Christophe Degryse and Philippe Pochet, raises the question of the democratic legitimacy of these measures. The authors argue that the legitimacy question will determine their acceptability among European populations and the long-term sustainability of the answers proposed for dealing with the crisis. In strengthening the governance of the euro zone, it is therefore not possible to turn a blind eye to the democratic legitimacy of the measures selected for this purpose.