European Stability Mechanism

This briefing is one in a series of 'Implementation Appraisals' on the operation of existing EU legislation in practice. Each such briefing focuses on a specific EU law which is likely to be amended or reviewed, as foreseen in the European Commission's Annual Work Programme.

Implementation Appraisals aim to provide a succinct overview of material publicly available on the implementation, application and effectiveness of an EU law to date – drawing on available input from the EU institutions and external organisations. They are provided to assist parliamentary committees in their consideration of the new proposals, once tabled.A proposal to transform the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) into a European Monetary Fund (EMF) within EU law was adopted by the European Commission on 6 December 2017. The publication of the proposal was announced in Annex I of the 2018 Commission work programme, as one of the actions within the item 'Completing the Economic and Monetary Union'.

In the context of the proposal, this briefing provides information on the functioning of the ESM, which recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. The European Stability Mechanism is an intergovernmental organisation that began operating on 8 October 2012, with the aim of providing financial assistance to euro-area countries experiencing or threatened by severe financing problems, and with a lending capacity of €500 billion. During the last five years, five EU countries: Ireland, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Spain have received support from the ESM. Around 33% of the ESM's lending capacity has been committed.

EP: EPRS: Briefing: Implementation Appraisal: Ex-ante Impact Assessment http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/search.html?policyAreas=EXIMAS

EP: EPRS: Briefing: Implementation in Action, November 2017: Implementation appraisals following the Commission Work Programme 2018 http://www.europeansources.info/record/implementation-appraisals-following-the-commission-work-programme-2018/

---