Making the EMU. The politics of budgetary surveillance and the enforcement of Maastricht

Abstract:

Globalisation and creative accounting have opened up opportunities for corporate fraudsters whose organisations fall between the disciplines of national regulatory authorities. Can the regulatory authorities create an internationally empowered monitor to counteract the rule breakers? If not then how are we to create an oversight organisation to monitor the budgetary figures of nation states? The European Union has that responsibility for Member States under the Stability and Growth Pact and has delegated the task to a relatively minor agency in the European Commission which, this work argues, is hardly up to the task.

The book is organised over six substantive chapters and a postscript. Chapter one examines the enforcing of the Maastricht Treaty and the significance of treaty surveillance, raising questions concerning the nature of delegation, supranational agency rule-making, treaty compliance and enforcement, techniques of surveillance, and EU integration. Chapter two takes a close look at treaty delegation and the institutional structure of budgetary surveillance. Chapter three considers the design of a Compliance Information System, the role of the European System of Accounts and the techniques of surveillance. The role of administrative case law for Stage II convergence is examined in chapter four and that for Stage III monetary union is examined in chapter five. Chapter six analyses the credibility of the surveillance procedure with particular reference to the role of Eurostat, which is now seen as positive despite the scandal surrounding its contracts with statistical consulting companies revealed in 2003.

The book will interest scholars, students, researchers, economists engaged in the fields of European studies, European finances, European integration and economics.

James D. Savage is Professor of Politics and Assistant Vice President for Research and Federal Relations at the University of Virginia.