EUROPE: RECONSIDERING AND GOVERNABILITY

MAJOR Gyöngyi (SKI Budapest – Educons University), major.gyongyi@gmail.com

The sovereign debt crisis, which was caused in Europe as a consequence of the international economic crisis, brought the institutional shortcomings of European integration to the surface. The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is characterised by a number of asymmetries and cannot be managed as an optimal currency area. Most of the reactions to the crisis have been national ones, though state debt crises would require continuous EU-level measures. There are an increasing number of arguments supporting the view that saving the Eurozone is possible through strengthening European economic governance. The idea also arises that there is a need for deeper political and budgetary integration. It is still a question, however, along what reforms and in what model the process of dynamic development could continue in which the represented solidary and sustainable economic development theory can be enforced without hurting “the value of diversity” and, what is more, the EU could continue to function in the international system as a stabilising factor, taking advantage of its special nature. This study outlines the new narratives, goals and routes along which the challenges that the European Union is facing – primarily the problems of the crisis, competitiveness, differences in the level of development, ageing of the society and the real convergence of the community system of institutions – may become manageable. It presents the solution proposals which are possible without giving up the European system of values, building on the shared interests of member states – integrating national interests, yet not making the survival of integration problematic.

Keywords: crisis, integration, convergence, optimal currency area, reforms, economic governance