The European Central Bank and the Sovereign Debt Crisis

The role of the European Central Bank expanded substantially during the sovereign debt crisis. In some instances (such as its nonconventional monetary policy), the ECB made use of existing competences but nevertheless faced criticism that it had gone too far. In other cases (such as its role in the troika and financial supervision), its competence was expanded. The ECB has evolved from a primarily technocratic actor to one that is more overtly political. How did this occur? Is it a short-term phenomenon or have we witnessed a fundamental shift in the nature of the ECB? What are the implications of this for euro area governance? This paper considers the rising role of the European Central Bank from the perspective of the major theories of European integration: neofunctionalism, principal-agent theory, and constructivism.