The EU and the Euro Area in International Economic Governance: The Case of the IMF

© Cambridge University Press. International economic governance is one of the major contemporary fields of cross-border policy and regulatory efforts. It has gained further significance since the outbreak of the 2008 financial crisis. A significant role within this framework is played by the International Monetary Fund (IMF or Fund). Since the beginning of the European sovereign debt crisis, the relationship between the European Union (EU), in particular the euro area, and the IMF has evolved and shifted considerably. In light of these developments this chapter examines and discusses the potential and limits that the post-Lisbon EU Treaty provisions offer with regard to the external representation of the EU and the euro area in the IMF. This discussion is subsequently approached from the viewpoint of the IMF; in particular, the Articles of Agreement of the latter. The international financial crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis have given rise to seemingly conflicting economic and political developments in the EU. On the one hand, they have provoked - or at least exacerbated - the problem of diverging economic and monetary interests amongst EU Member States. On the other hand, the crisis has accelerated the ongoing rebalancing of global economic and monetary power in favour of emerging economies, which, in turn, underlines the urgency for EU Member States to improve their coordination and/or representation in international financial institutions and conferences (IFIC), if they are to remain influential, fulfilling the Union’s raison d’être as elaborated by de Bárca in this volume. Hence, it is important to examine how the relevant EU Treaty provisions that have entered into force with the Treaty of Lisbon could alter EU/euro area performance in the Fund. As argued in this chapter, the euro area, but perhaps not the EU as a whole, is now equipped with the legal tools to improve the effectiveness, visibility and coherence of its external representation. Article 138 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) obliges euro area Member States to adopt common positions in international forums and even allows for a unified representation of the euro area in these forums. However, the Treaties stop short of clarifying the relationship between the external representation of the euro area and the EU. They did not formally bestow the euro area with legal personality, thereby handicapping it in becoming fully engaged in IFIC.

ISBN:9781107033337

Publication year:2014