After decades of relative inactivity, several crises have accelerated the EU’s pursuit of fiscal integration. The euro area crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine have led to important changes in the way Member States pool their resources and to an ongoing debate about the creation of a significant and permanent fiscal capacity for the EU or the euro area.
The practical impossibility of amending the Treaties, however, means that the EU and its Member States have had to resort to creative solutions in order to address past crises, and they will continue to do so in order to address future challenges. There is therefore a disconnect between the original fiscal constitution of the EU, on the one hand, and what the EU and its Member States have had to do in the past and are likely to attempt in the future, on the other.
This lecture will map out the evolution and acceleration of fiscal integration in the EU since the euro area crisis, focusing on the disconnect between the original Treaty framework and recent developments. It will finish by looking to the future of fiscal integration, as well as its constitutional pitfalls and limits.