| Author (Corporate) | European Commission |
|---|---|
| Series Title | COM |
| Series Details | (2015) 602 final (21.10.15) |
| Publication Date | 21/10/2015 |
| Content Type | Policy-making, Report |
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In order to complete the EMU, greater responsibility and integration at EU and euro area level must go hand in hand with institutional strengthening. One of the areas where concrete steps towards this objective are explicitly foreseen in the Treaty and can therefore be taken already today is the external representation of the euro area. The economic and financial weight of the euro area and the existence of a single monetary and exchange rate policy have made euro area policy decisions and economic developments increasingly relevant for the world economy. The euro is a successful and stable currency. It is shared by 19 EU Member States and more than 330 million citizens. It has provided its members with price stability and shielded them against external instability. Despite the recent crisis, it remains the second most important currency in the world, with a share of almost a quarter of global foreign exchange reserves, and with almost sixty countries and territories around the world either directly or indirectly pegging their currency to it. The political relevance of the euro area has been greatly enhanced in recent years. The European Semester, along with adoption of the so-called six-pack and two-pack legislation as well as the Treaty on the Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union have integrated, strengthened and broadened EU-level surveillance of Member State policies in essential areas of macroeconomic and budgetary relevance. The European Stability Mechanism was established as the permanent crisis resolution mechanism for the countries of the euro area. The Union has also put in place a Banking Union with centralized supervision and resolution for banks in the euro area and open to all other Member States. The external representation of the Union, when exercising its competences specific to the euro area (hereinafter referred to as "external representation of the euro area"), has not kept up with those developments. This limits the effectiveness of the euro area voice in the international financial institutions. The progress that has been achieved on further internal integration of the euro area needs to be projected externally, notably through progress towards united external economic representation. The external representation needs to be made more coherent to allow the euro area to play a more active role in international financial institutions and to shape effectively its future role in the global financial architecture. This concept was already highlighted as one of the key priorities in the Commission's Blueprint for a Deep and Genuine Economic and Monetary Union. The Five Presidents' report of June 2015 on the future of the Economic and Monetary Union further stressed that a strengthened international voice is an integral part of the ongoing efforts to improve the economic governance of the euro area. And as the EMU evolves towards Economic, Financial and Fiscal Union, its external representation should also be increasingly unified. The European Parliament has also called for a unified external representation of the euro area. Considerable progress has been made in strengthening the Union and the euro area external representation in many international economic and financial fora, but further steps are needed to achieve a truly unified external representation. This Communication therefore sets out a roadmap towards an increasingly unified external representation of the EMU around which a consensus in the Council and in the European Parliament could be shaped. External representation of the euro area is still particularly fragmented in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which through its lending instruments and surveillance is a key institutional actor in global economic governance. The Commission therefore puts forward in parallel a legal proposal laying down measures in view of establishing a unified representation of the euro area in the IMF. This does not prejudge future developments that could call for a further strengthening of euro area representation also in other international fora. |
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| Source Link | http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2015:602:FIN |
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| Subject Categories | Economic and Financial Affairs, Politics and International Relations |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
