Ruling Europe
The Politics of the Stability and Growth Pact

This book analyses the fraught history and politics of the Stability and Growth Pact from its origins to the present economic crisis.

Martin Heipertz (Author), Amy Verdun (Author), Jean-Claude Juncker (Foreword by)

9780521283304, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 3 February 2011

334 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.49 kg

'… an informative, detailed and readable case study of the SGP … likely to appeal to policy practitioners and readers with a general interest in understanding the making and development of the pact. It also provides a valuable reference source for academics who want to learn about the details of the SGP's history.' Patricia Wruuck, University of Mannheim

The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) is central to Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in Europe. Initiated by Germany in 1995 and adopted in 1997, it regulates the fiscal policies of European Union Member States. Following numerous violations of its deficit reference value, the Pact's Excessive Deficit Procedure was suspended in 2003. The decision to suspend was brought before the European Court of Justice in 2004 and the SGP then underwent painstaking reform in 2005. After a period of economic prosperity and falling budgetary deficits, the global economic crisis put the system under renewed stress. Ruling Europe presents a comprehensive analysis of the political history of the SGP as the cornerstone of EMU. It examines the SGP through different theoretical lenses, offering a fascinating study of European integration and institutional design. One cannot understand the Euro without first understanding the SGP.

Foreword Jean-Claude Juncke
1. The politics of the Stability and Growth Pact
Part I: 2. States, intergovernmentalism and negotiating the SGP
3. Opening the box: a domestic politics approach to the SGP
4. The functional logic behind the SGP
5. The role of experts and ideas
Part II: 6. Implementation of the SGP in good and in bad times
7. From bad times to crisis
8. The SGP before the European Court of Justice
9. The SGP in times of financial turbulence and economic crisis
10. Conclusion: the past, present and future of the SGP and implications for European integration theory
Appendix.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Economics [KC], Constitution: government & the state [JPHC], Politics & government [JP]