The paper adresses the need for more flexibility in the integration process of the European Union after its recent eastward enlargement. Due to the increasing number of decision-makers and the increasing heterogeneity of economic structures, financial constraints, societal preferences, and...

Over the last thirty years or so the developments in the area of monetary and macroeconomic policies have been quite substantial. Within the new consensus macroeconomics (NCM), monetary policy is upgraded while fiscal policy is downgraded. This new monetary policy has been the main instrument of...