tailieunhanh - COMMUNITY ACT FOR ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE AND CONVERGENCE IN THE UNION

There has been a considerable effort to tout the merits of fiscal austerity as a route to restoring growth. This argument has been put forward in direct opposition to arguments for increased stimulus for boosting the economy. While there may be a case that lower deficits can foster growth under some circumstances, the evidence presented in the Broadbent and Daly paper does not suggest that a movement toward lower deficits in the current economic situation in the United States would be expansionary. Very few of the countries in which fiscal austerity was associated with more rapid growth adopted austerity. | COMMUNITY ACT FOR ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE AND CONVERGENCE IN THE UNION 1 Why we have written this paper Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy recently presented some ideas for a Pact for Competitiveness . There is no doubt that besides the monetary union we also need as soon as possible a genuine economic union. The sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone has demonstrated that a monetary union without an economic union simply cannot work. The question is if the proposed Pact for Competitiveness is exactly what we need We have serious doubts about that. First of all the pact limits the areas for improved governance to just six specific measures. In so doing it narrows the scope of the much needed economic governance. Rather than integrating and building on existing instruments EU2020 European Semester Integrated guidelines Stability and Growth Pact macro economic surveillance framework it adds yet another separate tier of economic policy to the Union. Finally the pact is based on the intergovernmental method which has proved in the past to be a failure. Therefore we urge the Commission to use its right of initiative and come forward with an alternative a Community Act for Economic Convergence and Governance . In this paper we provide key elements that should be included in such an act. Why the Pact for Competitiveness will not succeed The first reason why the Pact for Competitiveness will not achieve its objectives is because the intergovernmental method simply does not work. The history of the European Union shows that intergovernmental initiatives have mostly failed while the Community method has proved to be successful. Clear examples showing that the Community Method works are the efficient functioning of the internal market and competition policy. In these fields the European Commission is in charge and both policies are widely recognised to be success stories. Furthermore this is a guarantee for equal treatment of all Member States. If the Member States were to .