The Transformation of Economic Governance in the European Union

Abstract

The past decade has witnessed a transformation of economic governance in the European Union (EU), partly as a result of responses to the various internal and external crises, but also as a consequence of the wider developments inside and outside the EU. Notable among the major reforms that have impacted on the EU’s governance of economic policies are the adoption of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the development of a more significant fiscal capacity at the European level, the moves towards digital and green transitions, with the associated creation of regulatory and fiscal mechanisms, and the various instruments adopted in the context of the EU’s geoeconomics turn. Crucially, the transformation that these developments have spurred has impacted both the EU level and the member states. The formulation and implementation of the National Recovery Plans (as part of the RRF), the use of EU funding to promote the green and digital transitions, or the relaxation of EU constraints on state aid controls and competition policy in the search for a new industrial policy – all of these policies have required new arrangements and responsibilities for the EU institutions as well as deep changes on decision-making and public management processes within member states. The changing dynamics of economic governance in the EU therefore have far-reaching implications for the institutions, policies, and politics of both the EU and its member states. On the one hand, the EU as a polity is evolving and, with it, its relationship with its constituent units (i.e. the member states). On the other hand, domestic factors frame how the member states influence institution-building and policy-making and at the EU level. The panel brings together papers that focus on key aspects of these issues, namely, the new EU’s take on conditionality, the evolution of Economic and Monetary Union, a new, more expansive industrial policy, and the rising agenda of economic security for the EU.

Title	Details
'Show Me The Money’ – The Reshaping of Economic Governance in the European Union	View Paper Details
Are rewards more effective than punishments? The new EU’s take on conditionality in response to the Covid-19 pandemic	View Paper Details
Conditionality in the European Semester: Managing Conflict on the Recovery Agenda	View Paper Details
Understanding the Role of Experts in Economic Governance of the EU	View Paper Details
How EU Industrial Policy Got its Groove Back: From Market Orientation to Securitization in the Geoeconomic Era	View Paper Details