Economic Policy Coordination in the EU: Linking national ownership and surveillance

In this Synthesis about a high-level workshop on the 'Surveillance of economic policy coordination in the EU', organised by the Jacques Delors Institut – Berlin, Valentin Kreilinger, research fellow, summarises the main issues that were discussed and the input for the debate on strengthening the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

The high-level workshop was attended by 40 participants and held under the Chatham House rule. Members of national parliaments, members of the European Parliament, officials from German ministries and EU institutions, academics and think-tankers discussed a wide range of questions: What are the design flaws in the multi-level governance architecture? Do we have a sound institutional set-up in economic policy coordination? What are its nature and direction? Are national parliaments lost in translation? How can we build bridges between the national and the European level and reduce the complexity of surveillance procedures? What needs to be done to achieve better accountability?

This Synthesis summarises the discussions and puts them into the context of reforming EU economic governance.