France, Germany and the Management of the Eurozone Crisis
Joachim Schild, University of Trier
The future of the Eurozone crucially depends on strong political leadership. Since the first steps towards European monetary integration, France and Germany always had a leading role in European monetary integration and in defining the institutional framework governing monetary policy and fiscal policy coordination. There is no other EU policy field where Franco-German leadership has been more important and more continuous over several decades of European integration history since the signing of the Elysée Treaty. The main focus of this paper is on three questions about a specific Franco-German leadership role in this crisis. 1. How did Paris and Berlin perform in terms of short term crisis management when bailout packages had to be decided? 2. What was their contribution to a redesign of the rules governing the Eurozone (Stability and Growth Pact and its reform; complementary proposals to improve the long-term economic competitiveness of Eurozone members)? 3. What is the impact of Franco-German bilateralism on the reform of the governance structure of the Eurozone? Preparatory work on these subjects has been published in journal and yearbook articles Joachim Schild : Mission impossible? The Potential for Franco‐German Leadership in the Enlarged EU. In: Journal of Common Market Studies, 48 (2010), 5, pp. 1367‐1390. Joachim Schild : Quel leadership franco‐allemand en matière de gouvernance économique européenne ? in: Annuaire Français des Relations Internationales 2011, Vol. XII, La documentation Française/Bruylant , pp. 493‐510.