Jean Pisani-Ferry's note was prepared for the European Parliament-National Parliaments Debate on How to Raise Growth in the Euro Area? in Brussels.

Visiting scholar Xavier Debrun, and Bruegel director Jean Pisani-Ferry contribute to the emerging discussion on reform strategies in the euro area. An earlier version of this note was presented to the Eurogroup Working Group of the Economic Policy Committee of the EU.

This paper discusses the creation of a European Banking Union. First, we discuss questions of design. We highlight seven fundamental choices that decision makers will need to make: Which EU countries should participate in the banking union? To which categories of banks should it apply? Which...

The search for solutions to the euro crisis is based on a partial diagnosis that overemphasises the lack of enforcement of existing fiscal rules. Europe's leaders should rather address the euro area's inherent weaknesses revealed by the crisis. At the core of euro-area vulnerability is an...

Extensive prior research on the economics of European monetary union highlighted some potential risks (the known unknowns) but overlooked others (the unknown unknowns). Asymmetries among participating countries, the potentially destabilising character of a one-size-fits all monetary policy, the...

• Eine Währungsunion von politisch souveränen Staaten benötigt eine gemeinsame Philosophie über die Ent-Politisierung des Geldwesens. • Eine Währungsunion braucht ein einigermaßen einheitliches ökonomisches Erklärungsparadigma für monetäre Phänomene. • Die nationale...

The euro is a new currency, and the ECB as a new institution still has to establish its reputation. The best way to do this is for the ECB to deliver a stable money. The two-pillar strategy pursued by the ECB seems to confuse the markets because market participants are unclear about which of the...

1. Make the national labor markets more flexible in order to avoid additional unemployment. 2. Do not Europeanize wage formation. 3. Leave employment a national responsibility. 4. Do not push for a social union. 5. Resist the political demand for transfers. 6. Accept the 'one-size-fits-all'...

The initial introduction of the euro has, against many expectations, been accompanied by a decline in the value of the euro (notably vis-à-vis the dollar and sterling). It has also been introduced at a time of high levels of unemployment within most of the European Union (EU). This paper...

The paper presents labor productivities in the member countries of Euroland. The result is that there is quite a divergence in labor productivities (per head) in the European Monetary Union. The Netherlands and Italy reach 85 percent of the West German level, Spain 62 and Portugal 35. This...