The paper summarises the channels and mechanisms which lead to the emergence of macroeconomic imbalances in the EMU before, in and after the crisis of 2008/09. It focuses on the role of the specific institutional setting of the EMU in these developments and outlines the key reforms which are...

The European integration process is ongoing. Europe is still heterogeneous. Within this context, the paper addresses the question of whether policies in the EU should head towards autonomy, coordination or harmonization. Taking the path dependence effect into account, in the papers' opinion,...

German policy during the Eurozone crisis supposedly follows an ordoliberal tradition. In this paper, we discuss to what extent this contention holds and to what extent Germany pragmatically responded to different crisis phenomena. A proper analysis of ordoliberal thinking reveals that the...

The Euro area is currently going through its worst period of recession and economic stagnation since the Great Depression and World War II. The article tries to give an impression of the extraordinary degree of fiscal austerity and the devastating economic effects it has already had and must be...