The impact of monetary union on the government of the State

Abstract

The European Monetary Union demands a budgetary discipline. Nonetheless, at the same time, it drastically reduces the possibilities of autonomous decision making. This paper examines the mismatch between the political debate in Spain and the actual possibilities for independent policy making; particularly, once the ECJ has recalled (in the “Pringle” case), the severe obligations arising out of the European solidarity principle. The paper concludes with a critical analysis of some of the recent regulatory reforms.