Reforming Economic and Monetary Union: Legislation and Treaty Change

Summary:

This paper examines the legal mechanisms for reforming EMU — EU legislation, amendments to intergovernmental treaties concluded outside EU law, and EU treaty changes. It provides guidance on how to introduce several needed changes to EMU, suggesting that many reforms can be accomplished à traité constant, but that improving the EU institutional system ultimately requires changing the EU treaties.

The paper points out, reforming EMU through legislation is easier than by amending treaties — and many EMU reforms could be already undertaken now, a traite constant. Nevertheless, Brexit creates a window of opportunity to introduce far-reaching revisions to the EU treaties, and this should quickly be exploited to endow the EU with a more perfect constitutional architecture. Treaty changes are indeed required to address the deep legitimacy deficit exposed by the Euro- crisis and its aftermath.

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