EU Fiscal Capacity: Legal integration after Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine

Description

The explosion of the Covid-19 pandemic in February 2020 led to a paradigm change in the European Union architecture of economic governance. To mitigate the pandemic's damage, the EU established a Recovery Fund called 'Next Generation EU' (NGEU). Funded though resources raised on the financial markets, this special budget is worth 750bn€ at 2018 prices, which corresponds to 806,9bn€ at current prices. Disbursed to member states in the form of both loans and grants and to be repaid on a long-term basis through the introduction of new EU taxes, the NGEU has endowed the EU with borrowing, spending, and taxing powers. EU Fiscal Capacity: Legal Integration After Covid-19 and the War in Ukraine argues that the NGEU constiutes a profound overhaul in the EU architecture of economic governance. Moving away from the fiscal surveillance shown in response to the euro-crisis, the EU has adopted a strategy of fiscal federalism more akin to the United States. The return of war in Europe following 75 years of peace has caused yet more socio-economic damage for the EU. Occuring as Europe was slowly re-emerging from the pandemic, the war in Ukraine has disrupted supply chains, increased humanitarian assistance costs, and generated an energy crisis. Within the context of war, the limitations of the current EU constitutional arrangements have yet again been exposed. EU Fiscal Capacity argues that the EU needs to retain the NGEU as a permanent feature of EMU. The first book to analyse how the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have affected Europe's Economic & Monetary Union from an EU law and policy perspective, this book is a must read for policy makers and students of European law and politics alike. Contents Table of Cases List of Abbreviations Author Bio 1.Introduction 2.EMU before Covid-19 1Introduction 2EMU as an Asymmetric Architecture 2.1Original Settlement 2.2Euro-crisis and the Responses to It 2.3Outstanding Issues 3Proposals for a Fiscal Capacity 3.1High-level Groups 3.2EU Institutions 3.3EU Member States 4Design of a Fiscal Capacity 4.1Legal Bases 4.2Funding 4.3Governance and Accountability 5Conclusion 3.EMU during Covid-19 1Introduction 2Early Responses to Covid-19 2.1The Suspension of the Stability and Growth Pact 2.2The Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme 2.3The Eurogroup Package and the Approval of SURE 3The NGEU Recovery Fund 3.1Proposal 3.2Negotiations 3.3Entry into Force 4The Implications of the Responses to Covid-19 for EMU 4.1The Establishment of a Fiscal Capacity 4.2The Emergence of New Arrangements for EU Economic Governance 4.3Contrasting the EU Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic and to the Euro-crisis 5Conclusion 4.EMU because of Covid-19 1Introduction 2Next Generation EU: Legal Structure 2.1The EU Recovery Instrument and Own Resource Decision 2.2The Recovery and Resilience Facility 2.3The Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation 3Next Generation EU: Constitutional Aspects 3.1Legal Bases 3.2Treaty Framework 3.3Legitimacy and Effectiveness 4Fiscal Federalism in the EU: Comparative Considerations 4.1Brief Methodological Note 4.2The Establishment of a Fiscal Capacity in the US 4.3US Lessons for the Consolidation of a Fiscal Capacity in the EU 5Conclusion 5.EMU beyond Covid-19 1Introduction 2Managing NGEU 2.1Governance 2.2Values 2.3Funding 3Implementing NGEU: Italy as a Case Study 3.1Context 3.2Content 3.3Challenges 4Retaining NGEU? 4.1The Deepening of EMU 4.2The Reform of the Stability and Growth Pact 4.3The Legacy of NGEU 5Conclusion 6.The EU beyond the War in Ukraine 1Introduction 2The War in Ukraine and European Integration 2.1Advances 2.2Setbacks 2.3Explaining the EU Challenges in Dealing with the War in Ukraine 3A Roadmap for the EU 3.1Safeguarding European Economic Growth and Strategic Autonomy 3.2Consolidating a Fiscal Capacity in the EU 3.3Reforming the Governance System of the EU 4The Conference on the Future of Europe 4.1Functioning 4.2Final Outcome 4.3Follow-up 5Conclusion 7.Conclusion Index