In February 2000, the Austrian Federal Government set itself the target of achieving a balanced budget by 2002. A domestic stability pact was agreed that specified the budget performance to be achieved by the central, regional and local authorities. To this end, a comprehensive consolidation...

The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is an economic and monetary policy system based on a fundamental asymmetry and consisting of three elements: 1. an independent central bank (ECB) which is exclusively charged with monetary policy in the euro zone; 2. economic policies (fiscal and budgetary...