Report by:
Jean-Claude Juncker
in close cooperation with
Donald Tusk
Jeroen Dijsselbloem
Mario Draghi
and Martin Schulz
Completing Europe's
Economic and
Monetary Union
2
The Euro Summit of October 2014 underlined the
fact that ‘closer coordination of economic policies
is essential to ensure the smooth functioning of the
Economic and Monetary Union’ (EMU). It called for
work to continue to ‘develop concrete mechanisms for
stronger economic policy coordination, convergence and
solidarity’ and ‘to prepare next steps on better economic
governance in the euro area’.
This report has been prepared by the President of the
European Commission, in close cooperation with the
President of the Euro Summit, the President of the
Eurogroup, the President of the European Central Bank,
and the President of the European Parliament.
It has benefitted from intense discussion with Member
States and civil society. It builds on the report ‘Towards
a Genuine Economic and Monetary Union’ (the socalled
‘Four Presidents’ Report’), on the Commission’s
‘Blueprint for a Deep and Genuine EMU’ of 2012, which
remain essential references for completing EMU as well
as on the Analytical Note ‘Preparing for Next Steps on
Better Economic Governance in the Euro Area’ of 12
February 2015.
This report reflects the personal deliberations and
discussions of the five Presidents. It focuses on the euro
area, as countries that share a currency face specific
common challenges, interests and responsibilities. The
process towards a deeper EMU is nonetheless open to
all EU Members. It should be transparent and preserve
the integrity of the Single Market in all its aspects. In
fact, completing and fully exploiting the Single Market in
goods and services, digital, energy and capital markets
should be part of a stronger boost towards economic
union, as well as more jobs and higher growth.
A complete EMU is not an end in itself. It is a means to
create a better and fairer life for all citizens, to prepare
the Union for future global challenges and to enable
each of its members to prosper.
Table of Contents
1. The Nature of a Deep, Genuine and Fair Economic and Monetary
Union
3
2. Towards Economic Union - Convergence, Prosperity
and Social Cohesion
6
3. Towards Financial Union - Integrated Finance for an Integrated
Economy
10
4. Towards Fiscal Union - an Integrated Framework for Sound and
Integrated Fiscal Policies
13
5. Democratic Accountability, Legitimacy and Institutional
Strengthening
16
Annex 1: Roadmap Towards a Complete Economic and Monetary
Union
20
Annex 2: A More Integrated European Semester 22
Annex 3: Advisory European Fiscal Board - Guiding Principles 23
Introduction
The Nature of a Deep,
Genuine and Fair Economic
and Monetary Union
1
3Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union
©EuropeanCommission
4
The euro is a successful and stable currency. It is shared
by 19 EU Member States and more than 330 million
citizens. It has provided its members with price stability
and shielded them against external instability. Despite
the recent crisis, it remains the second most important
currency in the world, with a share of almost a quarter
of global foreign exchange reserves, and with almost
sixty countries and territories around the world either
directly or indirectly pegging their currency to it.
Europe is emerging from the worst financial and
economic crisis in seven decades. The challenges of
recent years forced national governments and EU
institutions to take quick and extraordinary steps. They
needed to stabilise their economies and to protect all
that has been achieved through the gradual and at
times painstaking process of European integration. As
a result, the integrity of the euro area as a whole has
been preserved and the internal market remains strong.
However, as economic growth and confidence return to
much of Europe, it is clear that the quick fixes of recent
years need to be turned into a lasting, fair and
democratically legitimate basis for the future. It is also
clear that, with 18 million unemployed in the euro area, a
lot more needs to be done to improve economic policies.
Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) today
is like a house that was built over decades but only
partially finished. When the storm hit, its walls and
roof had to be stabilised quickly. It is now high time to
reinforce its foundations and turn it into what EMU was
meant to be: a place of prosperity based on balanced
economic growth and price stability, a competitive social
market economy, aiming at full employment and social
progress. To achieve this, we will need to take further
steps to complete EMU.
The euro is more than just a currency. It is a political
and economic project. All members of our Monetary
Union have given up their previous national currencies
once and for all and permanently share monetary
sovereignty with the other euro area countries. In return,
countries gain the benefits of using a credible and
stable currency within a large, competitive and powerful
single market. This common destiny requires solidarity
in times of crisis and respect for commonly agreed rules
from all members.
However, this bargain only works as long as all
members gain from it. For this condition to hold,
countries have to take steps, both individually and
collectively, to compensate for the national adjustment
tools they give up on entry. They must be able, first, to
better prevent crises through high quality governance
at European and national level, sustainable fiscal
and economic policies, and fair and efficient public
administrations. Second, when economic shocks occur,
as they inevitably will, each country has to be able to
respond effectively.
They must be able to absorb shocks internally through
having suitably resilient economies and sufficient
fiscal buffers over the economic cycle. This is because,
with monetary policy set uniformly for the whole euro
area, national fiscal policies are vital to stabilise the
economy whenever a local shock occurs. And with all
countries sharing a single exchange rate, they need
flexible economies that can react quickly to downturns.
Otherwise they risk that recessions leave deep and
permanent scars.
Yet relative price adjustment will never occur as quickly
as exchange rate adjustment. And we have seen
that market pressures can deprive countries of their
fiscal stabilisers in a slump. For all economies to be
permanently better off inside the euro area, they also
need to be able to share the impact of shocks through
risk-sharing within the EMU. In the short term, this risksharing
can be achieved through integrated financial
and capital markets (private risk-sharing) combined
with the necessary common backstops, i.e. a lastresort
financial safety net, to the Banking Union. In the
medium term, as economic structures converge towards
the best standards in Europe, public risk-sharing should
be enhanced through a mechanism of fiscal stabilisation
for the euro area as a whole.
Preventing unsustainable policies and absorbing shocks
individually and collectively did not work well before or
during the crisis. Though several important institutional
improvements have since been made, the legacy of the
initial shortcomings persists. There is now significant
divergence across the euro area. In some countries,
unemployment is at record lows, while in others it is at
record highs; in some, fiscal policy can be used countercyclically,
in others fiscal space will take years of
consolidation to recover.
Today’s divergence creates fragility for the whole Union.
We must correct this divergence and embark on a new
convergence process. The success of Monetary Union
anywhere depends on its success everywhere. Moreover,
in an increasingly globalised world, Member States have
a responsibility and self-interest to maintain sound
policies and to embark on reforms that make their
economies more flexible and competitive.
Progress must happen on four fronts: first, towards
a genuine Economic Union that ensures each
economy has the structural features to prosper within
the Monetary Union. Second, towards a Financial
Union that guarantees the integrity of our currency
across the Monetary Union and increases risk-sharing
with the private sector. This means completing the
Banking Union and accelerating the Capital Markets
5Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union
Union. Third, towards a Fiscal Union that delivers
both fiscal sustainability and fiscal stabilisation.
And finally, towards a Political Union that provides
the foundation for all of the above through genuine
democratic accountability, legitimacy and institutional
strengthening.
All four Unions depend on each other. Therefore, they
must develop in parallel and all euro area Member
States must participate in all Unions. In each case,
progress will have to follow a sequence of short- and
longer-term steps, but it is vital to establish and agree
the full sequence today. The measures in the short term
will only increase confidence now if they are the start
of a larger process, a bridge towards a complete and
genuine EMU. After many years of crisis, governments
and institutions must demonstrate to citizens and
markets that the euro area will do more than just
survive. They need to see that it will thrive.
This longer-term vision needs the measures in the
short term to be ambitious. They need to stabilise the
European house now and prepare the ground for a
complete architecture in the medium term. This will
inevitably involve sharing more sovereignty over time.
In spite of the undeniable importance of economic and
fiscal rules and respect for them, the world’s second
largest economy cannot be managed through rule-based
cooperation alone. For the euro area to gradually evolve
towards a genuine Economic and Monetary Union, it will
need to shift from a system of rules and guidelines for
national economic policy-making to a system of further
sovereignty sharing within common institutions, most
of which already exist and can progressively fulfil this
task. In practice, this would require Member States to
accept increasingly joint decision-making on elements of
their respective national budgets and economic policies.
Upon completion of a successful process of economic
convergence and financial integration, this would pave
the way for some degree of public risk sharing, which
would at the same time have to be accompanied by
stronger democratic participation and accountability both
at national and European levels. Such a stage-based
approach is necessary as some of the more ambitious
measures require changes to our current EU legal
framework – some more profound than others – as well
as significant progress in terms of economic convergence
and regulatory harmonisation across euro area Member
States.
The aim of this report is two-fold: to lay out the first
steps that will launch this process today, and to provide
a clear orientation for the longer-term measures.
The process would be organised in two consecutive
stages (see Roadmap in Annex 1):
Stage 1 (1 July 2015 - 30 June 2017): In this first
stage (‘deepening by doing’), the EU institutions
and euro area Member States would build on existing
instruments and make the best possible use of the
existing Treaties. In a nutshell, this entails boosting
competitiveness and structural convergence, completing
the Financial Union, achieving and maintaining
responsible fiscal policies at national and euro area
level, and enhancing democratic accountability.
Stage 2: In this second stage (‘completing EMU’),
concrete measures of a more far-reaching nature
would be agreed to complete EMU’s economic and
institutional architecture. Specifically, during this second
stage, the convergence process would be made more
binding through a set of commonly agreed benchmarks
for convergence that could be given a legal nature.
Significant progress towards these standards – and
continued adherence to them once they are reached
– would be among the conditions for each euro area
Member State to participate in a shock absorption
mechanism for the euro area during this second stage.
Final Stage (at the latest by 2025): At the end
of Stage 2, and once all the steps are fully in place,
a deep and genuine EMU would provide a stable and
prosperous place for all citizens of the EU Member
States that share the single currency, attractive for
other EU Member States to join if they are ready to do
so.
The Presidents of the EU institutions will follow up on
the implementation of the recommendations in this
report. To prepare the transition from Stage 1 to Stage
2, the Commission will present a White Paper in spring
2017 assessing progress made in Stage 1 and outlining
the next steps needed, including measures of a legal
nature to complete EMU in Stage 2. The White Paper
will draw on analytical input from an expert consultation
group, which will further explore the legal, economic
and political preconditions of the more long term
proposals contained in this report. It will be prepared
in consultation with the Presidents of the other EU
institutions.
This report puts forward ideas which, following further
discussion, can be translated into laws and institutions.
This requires a broad, transparent and inclusive process
– a process which should begin without delay.
Towards Economic Union Convergence,
Prosperity
and Social Cohesion
2
6
©EuropeanCommission
7Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union
The notion of convergence is at the heart of our
Economic Union: convergence between Member
States towards the highest levels of prosperity; and
convergence within European societies, to nurture our
unique European model.
In EMU, monetary policy is centralised, but important
parts of economic policy remain national. However, as
the crisis made particularly visible, euro area members
depend on each other for their growth. It is in each
member’s common and self-interest to be able to
cushion economic shocks well, to modernise economic
structures and welfare systems, and make sure that
citizens and businesses can adapt to, and benefit from,
new demands, trends and challenges. It is equally in each
member’s interest that all others do so at a similar speed.
This is crucial in a Monetary Union like EMU where large
scale fiscal transfers between members are not foreseen
and where labour mobility is relatively limited.
This does not mean that all Member States that share
the single currency are or should be alike, or that
they should follow the same policies. What ultimately
matters is the outcome: that all euro area Member
States pursue sound policies so that they can rebound
quickly from short-term shocks, are able to exploit their
comparative advantages within the Single Market and
attract investment, thereby sustaining high levels of
growth and employment.
Much can be achieved already through a deepening
of the Single Market, which is important for all 28
EU Member States but in particular for the Member
States which share the euro as their currency. In
significant policy areas, such as goods and services,
as well as in areas with untapped potential, such as
energy, digital and capital markets, the Single Market
is still incomplete. This shows that there are significant
political obstacles despite the enormous economic
potential associated with a truly Single Market. In order
to make progress, relevant decisions in each of the
areas should be seen as part of a political package
which benefits all Member States, instead of being
conceived as independent from each other. But that
alone is not enough. Sustainable convergence also
requires a broader set of policies that come under the
heading of ‘structural reforms’, i.e. reforms geared at
modernising economies to achieve more growth and
jobs. That means both more efficient labour and product
markets and stronger public institutions.
For convergence to happen between euro area
members, further progress is required. First, in the short
term (Stage 1), we need to set in motion a renewed
effort for all to converge towards the best performance
and practices in Europe, building upon and further
strengthening the current governance framework. The
ultimate aim is to achieve similarly resilient economic
structures throughout the euro area. This should lead to
a new boost for jobs and growth with competitiveness
and social cohesion at its core.
In Stage 2, this convergence process would be
formalised and would be based on a set of commonly
agreed standards with a legal character. Significant
progress towards the latter would be regularly
monitored and would be a condition for members to
benefit from further instruments, such as a shock
absorption mechanism to be set up for the euro area as
a whole.
2.1. A new boost to
convergence, jobs and growth
A renewed impetus for reform is in the spirit of the
2011 Euro Plus Pact on Stronger Economic Policy
Coordination for Competitiveness and Convergence,
which, however, largely failed to deliver the expected
results in view of its intergovernmental, non-binding
nature1
. Instead of further ‘pacts’, concrete progress
on the basis of EU law is needed to move towards an
Economic Union of convergence, growth and jobs. It
should rest on the following four pillars: the creation
of a euro area system of Competitiveness Authorities;
a strengthened implementation of the Macroeconomic
Imbalance Procedure; a greater focus on employment
and social performance; and on stronger coordination
of economic policies within a revamped European
Semester. This should be implemented in the short run
(Stage 1), on the basis of practical steps and in line with
the Community method.
A euro area system of
Competitiveness Authorities
Euro area governance is well established for the
coordination and surveillance of fiscal policies. It needs
to be improved in the broader and increasingly central
field of ‘competitiveness’. The European Semester –
and the creation of the Macroeconomic Imbalance
Procedure – are a first step to correct this shortcoming,
but much more needs to be done to make sure all
Member States improve their competitiveness as part of
the same momentum.
The creation by each euro area Member State of a
national body in charge of tracking performance and
policies in the field of competitiveness is recommended.
This would help to prevent economic divergence
and it would increase ownership of the necessary
reforms at the national level. These Competitiveness
1
	 The ‘Euro Plus Pact on Stronger Economic Policy Coordination for Competitiveness and Convergence’ was agreed in 2011 by the Heads of State and Government
of the euro area and Bulgaria, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. It is open to other EU Member States on a voluntary basis. It was conceived as an
intergovernmental solution to foster reforms and coordination. However, its implementation has suffered from a number of shortcomings, including the absence of a
monitoring institution, but its underlying rationale is still relevant and should be revived. Hence, its relevant parts should be integrated into the framework of EU law.
8
Authorities should be independent entities with a
mandate to ‘assess whether wages are evolving in line
with productivity and compare with developments in
other euro area countries and in the main comparable
trading partners’, as already agreed by a large
majority of Member States under the Euro Plus
Pact. In addition, these bodies could be mandated
to assess progress made with economic reforms to
enhance competitiveness more generally. In the end, a
competitive economy is one in which institutions and
policies allow productive firms to thrive. In turn, the
development of these firms supports the expansion
of employment, investment and trade.
A euro area system of Competitiveness Authorities
should bring together these national bodies and the
Commission, which would coordinate the actions of
national Competitiveness Authorities on an annual
basis. The Commission should then take into account
the outcome of this coordination when it decides on
steps under the European Semester, in particular for
its Annual Growth Survey and for decisions to be taken
under the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP),
including whether to recommend the activation of the
Excessive Imbalance Procedure.
Competitiveness Authorities
The aim of the Competitiveness Authorities should not
be to harmonise practices and institutions in charge
of wage formation across borders. Those processes
vary widely within the EU and rightly reflect national
preferences and legal traditions.
Based on a common template, each Member State should
decide the exact set-up of its national Competitiveness
Authority, but they should be democratically accountable
and operationally independent. National actors, such
as social partners, should continue to play their role
according to the established practices in each Member
State, but they should use the opinions of the Authorities
as guidance during wage setting negotiations. Some
Member States, like the Netherlands and Belgium,
already have such authorities.
A stronger Macroeconomic
Imbalance Procedure
The Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP) was
created at the height of the crisis. It is part of the
European Semester, the annual cycle of reporting and
surveillance of EU and national economic policies. It
serves as a tool to prevent and correct imbalances
before they get out of hand. It has become a vital device
for European surveillance, for instance to prevent real
estate bubbles, or to detect a loss of competitiveness,
rising levels of private and public debt, and a lack of
investment. It needs to be used to its full potential. This
requires action on two fronts in particular:
•	 It should be used not just to detect imbalances but
also to encourage structural reforms through the
European Semester. Its corrective arm should be used
forcefully. It should be triggered as soon as excessive
imbalances are identified and be used to monitor
reform implementation.
•	 The procedure should also better capture imbalances
for the euro area as a whole, not just for each
individual country. For this, it needs to continue to
focus on correcting harmful external deficits, given the
risk they pose to the smooth functioning of the euro
area (for example, in the form of ‘sudden stops’ of
capital flows). At the same time, the Macroeconomic
Imbalance Procedure (MIP) should also foster
adequate reforms in countries accumulating large
and sustained current account surpluses if these are
driven by, for example, insufficient domestic demand
and/or low growth potential, as this is also relevant
for ensuring effective rebalancing within the Monetary
Union.
A stronger focus on employment
and social performance
The employment and social situations vary widely across
the euro area, partly as a result of the crisis but also
because of underlying trends and poor performance predating
the crisis. Europe’s ambition should be to earn a
‘social triple A’.
This is also an economic necessity. For EMU to succeed,
labour markets and welfare systems need to function
well and in a fair manner in all euro area Member
States. Hence, employment and social concerns must
feature highly in the European Semester. Unemployment,
especially long term unemployment, is one of the main
reasons for inequality and social exclusion. Therefore,
efficient labour markets that promote a high level of
employment and are able to absorb shocks without
generating excessive unemployment are essential: they
contribute to the smooth functioning of EMU as well as
to more inclusive societies.
There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ template to follow, but
the challenges are often similar across Member States:
getting more people of all ages into work; striking
the right balance between flexible and secure labour
contracts; avoiding the divide between ‘insiders’ with
high protection and wages and ‘outsiders’; shifting taxes
away from labour; delivering tailored support for the
unemployed to re-enter the labour market, improving
education and lifelong learning - to name but a few.
Beyond labour markets, it is important to ensure that
every citizen has access to adequate education and
that an effective social protection system is in place to
protect the most vulnerable in society, including a ‘social
protection floor’. Our populations are ageing rapidly and
we still need major reforms to ensure that pension and
health systems can cope. This will include aligning the
9Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union
retirement age with life expectancy.
To secure EMU’s long-term success, we should go
a step further and push for a deeper integration of
national labour markets by facilitating geographic
and professional mobility, including through better
recognition of qualifications, easier access to public
sector jobs for non-nationals and better coordination of
social security systems.
A stronger coordination
of economic policies
The European Semester has significantly strengthened
the coordination of economic policies. However, the
addition of numerous ‘packs’, ‘pacts’, ‘procedures’ and
manifold reporting requirements has blurred its rationale
and effectiveness. The European Semester must be
about setting our priorities together and about acting on
them, in a European perspective, with a clear sense of
our common interest. Steps have been taken to simplify
and strengthen the European Semester: a greater focus
on priorities, fewer documents and more time to discuss
them, greater outreach at political level and engagement
with national authorities. These steps must be pursued
further in order to:
•	 Give Member States clear recommendations that
continue to focus on priority reforms that are
essential to raise potential growth, support job
creation and exploit the opportunities offered by the
Single Market. Country-Specific Recommendations
need to be concrete and ambitious, especially as
regards their expected outcome and the time-frame
for delivery. At the same time, they should remain
‘political’, i.e. Member States should have a degree
of freedom concerning the exact measures to be
implemented. The national reform programmes that
Member States prepare every year should serve as a
basis for them to discuss their reform intentions.
•	 Hold Member States accountable for the delivery
of their commitments. Periodic reporting on
implementation, regular peer reviews or a
‘comply-or-explain’ approach should be used more
systematically. The Eurogroup could already in
Stage 1 play a coordinating role in cross-examining
performance, with increased focus on benchmarking
and pursuing best practices. This must go hand in
hand with the use of the Macroeconomic Imbalance
Procedure (MIP) to its full potential.
•	 Better integrate the euro area and the national
dimensions. To this end, the European Semester
should be structured into two successive stages a
European and a national stage. This means that
discussions and recommendations concerning the
euro area as a whole should take place first, ahead
of country-specific discussions, so that common
challenges are fully reflected in country-specific
action. Annex 2 illustrates this proposal.
•	 Establish a clear long-term vision: not everything can
or should happen in one year. The annual cycle of the
European Semester should go together with a stronger
multi-annual approach in line with the renewed
convergence process.
2.2. Formalising the
convergence process
In the medium term (Stage 2), the convergence
process towards more resilient economic structures,
as described above, should become more binding. This
would be achieved by agreeing on a set of common
high-level standards that would be defined in EU
legislation, as sovereignty over policies of common
concern would be shared and strong decision-making
at euro area level would be established. In some areas,
this will need to involve further harmonisation. In other
areas, where different policies can lead to similarly
good performance, it will mean finding countryspecific
solutions. The common standards should focus
primarily on labour markets, competitiveness, business
environment and public administrations, as well as
certain aspects of tax policy (e.g. corporate tax base).
Progress towards these standards would be monitored
regularly. Country-Specific Recommendations would
continue to be used in this context. Furthermore, the
Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP) could
be utilised as a tool not only to prevent and correct
imbalances but also to foster reforms and monitor
progress in each euro area Member State towards
these common standards. Significant and sustained
convergence towards similarly resilient economies
should be a condition for access to a shock absorption
mechanism to be set up for the euro area, as briefly
outlined in sub-section 4.2.
Defining the specific standards and indicators requires
deeper analysis. However, as an example, the standards
for labour markets should combine security and
flexibility and could be developed along the various
pillars of the ‘flexicurity’ concept (e.g. flexible and
reliable labour contracts that avoid a two-tier labour
market, comprehensive lifelong learning strategies,
effective policies to help the unemployed re-enter the
labour market, modern social security systems and
enabling labour taxation).
3Towards Financial Union Integrated
Finance for an
Integrated Economy
10
©EuropeanCommission
11Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union
Progress towards a stronger Economic Union will go a
long way to improving the functioning of EMU. At the
same time, this must be accompanied by the completion
of a Financial Union. Indeed, Economic and Financial
Unions are complementary and mutually reinforcing.
Progress on these two fronts must be a top priority in
Stage 1 of the Roadmap towards a genuine EMU.
In a Monetary Union, the financial system must be
truly single or else the impulses from monetary policy
decisions (e.g. changes in policy interest rates) will not
be transmitted uniformly across its Member States.
This is what happened during the crisis, which in turn
aggravated economic divergence. Also, a single banking
system is the mirror image of a single money. As the
vast majority of money is bank deposits, money can
only be truly single if confidence in the safety of bank
deposits is the same irrespective of the Member State
in which a bank operates. This requires single bank
supervision, single bank resolution and single deposit
insurance. This is also crucial to address the banksovereign
negative feedback loops which were at the
heart of the crisis.
At the same time, the financial system must be able to
diversify risk across countries, so it can moderate the
impact of country-specific shocks and lower the amount
of risk that needs to be shared through fiscal means.
All these reasons justify the urgent need for a Financial
Union. We have largely achieved the goal on bank
supervision with the setting up of the Single Supervisory
Mechanism. The Single Resolution Mechanism has also
been agreed, but not yet fully implemented. To complete
the Financial Union, we need to launch a common
deposit insurance scheme and the Capital Markets
Union. Given their urgency, these measures should all be
implemented in Stage 1.
3.1. Completing the
Banking Union
Completing the Banking Union requires first and
foremost the full transposition into national law of the
Bank Resolution and Recovery Directive by all Member
States. This is crucial for sharing risk with the private
sector. Indeed, the Banking Union is a way to better
protect taxpayers from the cost of bank rescues.
Second, we also need a swift agreement on an adequate
bridge financing mechanism – a way of ensuring there
is enough money if a bank needs to be unwound
even if the financing in the Single Resolution Fund is
not enough at that time – for the Fund by the time it
becomes operational on 1 January 2016.2
Third, setting up a credible common backstop to the
Single Resolution Fund and making progress towards
a full level playing field for banks in all Member States
should be a priority during the transition period to the
creation of the Single Resolution Fund. A backstop
should therefore be implemented swiftly. This could be
done through a credit line from the European Stability
Mechanism (ESM) to the Single Resolution Fund. This
backstop should be fiscally neutral over the medium
term by ensuring that public assistance is recouped by
means of ex post levies on the financial industry.
Next, we propose the launching of a European Deposit
Insurance Scheme (EDIS) - the third pillar of a
fully-fledged Banking Union alongside bank supervision
and resolution. As the current set-up with national
deposit guarantee schemes remains vulnerable to large
local shocks (in particular when the sovereign and the
national banking sector are perceived to be in a fragile
situation), common deposit insurance would increase
the resilience against future crises. A common scheme
is also more likely to be fiscally neutral over time than
national deposit guarantee schemes because risks are
spread more widely and because private contributions
are raised over a much larger pool of financial
institutions. Setting up a fully-fledged EDIS will take
time, but taking concrete steps in that direction should
be a priority already in Stage 1 using the possibilities
under the current legal framework. A possible option
would be to devise the EDIS as a re-insurance system
at the European level for the national deposit guarantee
schemes. Just like the Single Resolution Fund, the
common EDIS would be privately funded through ex
ante risk-based fees paid by all the participating banks
in the Member States and devised in a way that would
prevent moral hazard. Its scope should coincide with
that of the Single Supervisory Mechanism.
In due course, the effectiveness of the ESM’s direct
bank recapitalisation instrument should be reviewed,
especially given the restrictive eligibility criteria
currently attached to it, while respecting the agreed
bail-in rules. A more easily accessible mechanism for
direct bank recapitalisation would boost depositor
confidence by keeping distressed sovereigns at arm’s
length in the governance of restructured banks, and it
would break the sovereign-bank nexus at national level.
All banks participating in the Banking Union need to
enjoy a level playing field. This will require further
measures, in addition to and beyond the single
rule book, to address the still significant margin for
discretion at national level which has important
implications, notably for the quality and composition of
banks’ capital. A large part of the discrepancies could be
addressed within the context of the Single Supervisory
Mechanism. But for other issues legislative changes are
necessary, in particular for those related to differing
2
	 This follows up on the ECOFIN Council statement of 18 December 2013.
12
legal and institutional frameworks. Similarly, the recent
revision of the Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive
has led to more harmonisation, especially on prefunding
of national schemes, but it still contains some
national discretion, which should be reviewed.
At the same time, the EU needs to continue to pay
attention to potential new risks developing in the
banking sector, including risks related to the shadow
banking sector. Existing structures need to be able to
detect risks to the financial sector as a whole.
To this end, we should consider strengthening our
macroprudential institutions, building on the role and
powers of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB),
while maximising its synergies with the ECB. Finally,
in the medium term, it may make sense to review the
treatment of bank exposures to sovereign debt, for
example by setting large exposure limits. This could
further de-link financial stability from national public
finances. However, such far-reaching changes to the
current framework should only be considered as part of
a coordinated effort at the global level.
3.2. Launching the
Capital Markets Union
Alongside Banking Union, launching the Capital Markets
Union must be seen as a priority3
. This applies to all
28 EU Member States, but it is particularly relevant to
the euro area. It will ensure more diversified sources
of finance so that companies, including SMEs, can tap
capital markets and access other sources of non-bank
finance in addition to bank credit. At the same time, a
well-functioning Capital Markets Union will strengthen
cross-border risk-sharing through deepening integration
of bond and equity markets, the latter of which is a key
shock absorber. Truly integrated capital markets would
also provide a buffer against systemic shocks in the
financial sector and strengthen private sector risk-sharing
across countries4
. This in turn reduces the amount of
risk-sharing that needs to be achieved through financial
means (public risk-sharing). However, as the closer
integration of capital markets and gradual removal of
remaining national barriers could create new risks to
financial stability, there will be a need to expand and
strengthen the available tools to manage financial
players’ systemic risks prudently (macro-prudential
toolkit) and to strengthen the supervisory framework
to ensure the solidity of all financial actors. This should
lead ultimately to a single European capital markets
supervisor.
In this context, it is important that regulation creates
incentives to risk-pooling and risk-sharing and ensures
that all financial institutions have sufficient
risk management structures in place and remain
prudentially sound. Taxation can also play an important
role in terms of providing a neutral treatment for
different but comparable activities and investments
across jurisdictions. A true Capital Markets Union also
requires other improvements, some of which can only
be achieved through legislation, such as: simplification
of prospectus requirements; a revived EU market for
high quality securitisation; greater harmonisation of
accounting and auditing practices; as well as addressing
the most important bottlenecks preventing the
integration of capital markets in areas like insolvency
law, company law, property rights and as regards the
legal enforceability of cross-border claims.
3
	 See the Green Paper ‘Building a Capital Markets Union’; European Commission, 18 February 2015.
4
	 Increased cross-border investment flows should in principle lead to greater private-sector risk sharing. This is for two reasons: 1) holding a more geographically
diversified portfolio of financial assets, including corporate bonds and equities, provides for returns that are less volatile and less correlated with domestic income
(capital market channel for risk sharing); 2) when a country is hit by an economic shock, cross-border flows should enable its residents to lend or borrow to offset the
shock (credit market channel of risk sharing).
Towards Fiscal Union an
Integrated Framework
for Sound and Integrated
Fiscal Policies
4
13Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union
©EuropeanCommission
14
One of the main lessons of the crisis has been that
fiscal policies are a matter of vital common interest in
a Monetary Union. Even a strong Economic and Financial
Union and a price stability-oriented common monetary
policy are no guarantee for EMU to always function
properly. Unsustainable fiscal policies not only endanger
price stability in the Union but they also harm financial
stability insofar as they create contagion between
Member States and financial fragmentation.
Responsible national fiscal policies are therefore
essential. They must perform a double function:
guaranteeing that public debt is sustainable and
ensuring that fiscal automatic stabilisers can operate to
cushion country-specific economic shocks. If this is not
the case, downturns are likely to last longer in individual
countries, which in turn affects the whole euro area.
But this is not enough. It is important to ensure also
that the sum of national budget balances leads to an
appropriate fiscal stance5
at the level of the euro area
as a whole. This is key to avoiding pro-cyclical fiscal
policies at all times.
Finally, in case of a very severe crisis, national budgets
can become overwhelmed, as was the case in some
countries in recent years. In such situations, national
fiscal stabilisers might not be enough to absorb the
shock and provide the optimal level of economic
stabilisation, which in turn can harm the whole euro
area. For this reason, it would be important to create
in the longer term a euro area-wide fiscal stabilisation
function. Such a step should be the culmination of a
process that requires, as a precondition, a significant
degree of economic convergence, financial integration
and further coordination and pooling of decision making
on national budgets, with commensurate strengthening
of democratic accountability. This is important to avoid
moral hazard and ensure joint fiscal discipline.
In the meantime, we need to reinforce trust in the
common EU fiscal governance framework. A continued
thorough, consistent and transparent implementation
of our current fiscal framework is therefore essential to
prepare the ground for further steps ahead.
4.1. Responsible budgetary
policies as EMU’s cornerstone
In recent years, the so-called ‘Six-Pack’, the ‘TwoPack’
and the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and
Governance have brought significant improvements
to the framework for fiscal policies in the EMU.
Together, they drive our efforts to prevent budgetary
imbalances, to focus on debt developments and on
better enforcement mechanisms, as well as on national
ownership of EU rules. This new governance framework
already provides for ample ex ante coordination of
annual budgets of euro area Member States and
enhances the surveillance of those experiencing
financial difficulties. Every Member State must stick to
the rules, or the credibility of this framework is at risk.
The rules are admittedly complex, but the forthcoming
review of the ‘Six-Pack’ and ‘Two-Pack’ should be an
opportunity to improve clarity, transparency, compliance
and legitimacy, while preserving their stability-oriented
nature.
In the short run (Stage 1), the current governance
framework should be strengthened through the creation
of an advisory European Fiscal Board. This new advisory
entity would coordinate and complement the national
fiscal councils that have been set up in the context of
the EU Directive on budgetary frameworks. It would
provide a public and independent assessment, at
European level, of how budgets – and their execution
– perform against the economic objectives and
recommendations set out in the EU fiscal governance
framework. The composition of the Board should be
pluralistic and draw from a wide range of expertise. The
mandate of this new European Fiscal Board should rest
on a number of guiding principles as set out in Annex 3.
Such a European Fiscal Board should lead to better
compliance with the common fiscal rules, a more
informed public debate, and stronger coordination of
national fiscal policies.
4.2. A fiscal stabilisation
function for the euro area
There are many ways for a currency union to progress
towards a Fiscal Union. Yet, while the degree to which
currency unions have common budgetary instruments
differs, all mature Monetary Unions have put in place
a common macroeconomic stabilisation function to
better deal with shocks that cannot be managed at the
national level alone.
This would be a natural development for the euro area
in the longer term (Stage 2) and under the conditions
explained above, i.e. as the culmination of a process of
convergence and further pooling of decision-making
on national budgets. The objective of automatic
stabilisation at the euro area level would not be to
actively fine-tune the economic cycle at euro area
level. Instead, it should improve the cushioning of large
macroeconomic shocks and thereby make EMU overall
more resilient. The exact design of such euro area
stabilisers requires more in-depth work. This should be
one of the tasks of the proposed expert group.
5
	 The concept of fiscal stance reflects changes to the fiscal balance in order to influence aggregate economic demand and output. Under the Stability and Growth Pact,
the fiscal stance is measured on the basis of the structural fiscal balance, i.e. the fiscal balance corrected for the effects of the economic cycle and net of one-off and
other temporary measures. Generally speaking, a fiscal deficit (surplus) would suggest an expansionary (contractionary) fiscal stance.
6
	 Such a European Fiscal Board could be modelled on the Commission’s independent Regulatory Scrutiny Board created in May 2015.
15Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union
Options and guiding principles for a
euro area stabilisation function
A prospective stabilisation function could, for example,
build on the European Fund for Strategic Investments
as a first step, by identifying a pool of financing sources
and investment projects specific to the euro area, to
be tapped into according to the business cycle. Various
additional sources of financing should be considered.
It will be important to ensure that the design of such
stabilisation function rests on the following guiding
principles:
•	 It should not lead to permanent transfers between
countries or to transfers in one direction only, which
is why converging towards Economic Union is a
precondition for participation. It should also not be
conceived as a way to equalise incomes between
Member States.
•	 It should neither undermine the incentives for sound
fiscal policy-making at the national level, nor the
incentives to address national structural weaknesses.
Accordingly, and to prevent moral hazard, it should
be tightly linked to compliance with the broad EU
governance framework and to progress in converging
towards the common standards described in Section 2.
•	 It should be developed within the framework of
the European Union. This would guarantee that it is
consistent with the existing EU fiscal framework and with
procedures for the coordination of economic policies. It
should be open and transparent vis-à-vis all EU Member
States.
•	 It should not be an instrument for crisis management.
The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) already
performs that function. Instead, its role should be to
improve the overall economic resilience of EMU and
individual euro area countries. It would thus help to
prevent crises and actually make future interventions
by the ESM less likely.
	 Such a measure would require a change of Article 33.1(b) of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, which can only
be implemented through a change to the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU.
5Democratic Accountability,
Legitimacy and Institutional
Strengthening
16
©EuropeanCommission
17Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union
Greater responsibility and integration at EU and
euro area level should go hand in hand with greater
democratic accountability, legitimacy and institutional
strengthening. This is both a condition for success and a
natural consequence of the increasing interdependence
within EMU. It also means better sharing of new powers
and greater transparency about who decides what
and when. Ultimately, this means and requires more
dialogue, greater mutual trust and a stronger capacity
to act collectively.
At the height of the crisis, far-reaching decisions had
often to be taken in a rush, sometimes overnight.
In several cases, intergovernmental solutions were
chosen to speed up decisions or overcome opposition.
Now is the time to review and consolidate our political
construct – and to build the next stage of our Economic
and Monetary Union.
A number of concrete steps towards more accountability
and participation should be taken already in the short
run (Stage 1):
A key role for the European
Parliament and national Parliaments
First practical steps have been initiated by the European
Parliament to strengthen parliamentary oversight as
part of the European Semester. ‘Economic dialogues’
between the European Parliament and the Council,
the Commission and the Eurogroup have taken place
in line with the provisions of the ‘Six-Pack’ and ‘TwoPack’
legislation. This has already been part of the last
European Semester rounds. These dialogues may be
enhanced by agreeing on dedicated time-slots during
the main steps of the Semester cycle. A new form
of inter-parliamentary cooperation was established
to bring together European and national actors.
This takes place within the European Parliamentary
Week organised by the European Parliament in cooperation
with national Parliaments, which includes
representatives from national Parliaments for indepth
discussions on policy priorities. The ‘Two-Pack’
also enshrined the right for a national Parliament to
convene a Commissioner for a presentation of the
Commission’s opinion on a draft budgetary plan or of its
recommendation to a Member State in Excessive Deficit
Procedure – a right that should be exercised more
systematically than at present.
We could further strengthen the timing and added
value of these parliamentary moments in line with
the renewed European Semester outlined in Annex 2.
In particular, the European Commission could engage
with the European Parliament at a plenary debate
before the Annual Growth Survey is presented, and
continue the debate following its adoption. Moreover,
a second dedicated plenary debate could be held
upon presentation by the Commission of the CountrySpecific
Recommendations, in accordance with the
relevant provisions of the ‘Six-Pack’ on economic
dialogue. At the same time, Commission and Council
representatives could participate in inter-parliamentary
meetings in particular in the context of the European
Parliamentary Week. This new practice could be
progressively agreed upon in more detail between the
EU institutions (Commission, Ecofin Council, Eurogroup
and the European Parliament) in full respect of their
respective institutional role, in the form of a non-binding
interinstitutional agreement.
The European Commission should also work out
model arrangements to make the interaction with
national Parliaments more efficient. Such interaction
should apply to national parliamentary debates
both on the Country-Specific Recommendations
addressed to the Member State and within the annual
budgetary procedure. That would give more life to
the right recognised in the ‘Two-Pack’ to convene a
Commissioner. As a rule, national Parliaments should be
closely involved in the adoption of National Reform and
Stability Programmes.
The European Parliament should organise itself to
assume its role in matters pertaining especially to the
euro area.
Consolidating the external
representation of the euro
As EMU evolves towards Economic, Financial and Fiscal
Union, its external representation should be increasingly
unified. This process may take place gradually, but it
should be put in motion starting in Stage 1.
The EU is the world’s largest trading block and the
world’s largest trader of manufactured goods and
services. It has achieved this by acting with one voice
on the global stage, rather than with 28 separate trade
strategies. The large economic and financial size and
the existence of a single monetary and exchange rate
policy for most of its members make the EU policy
decisions and economic developments increasingly
relevant for the world economy.
However, in the international financial institutions, the
EU and the euro area are still not represented as one.
This fragmented voice means the EU is punching below
its political and economic weight as each euro area
Member State speaks individually. This is particularly
true in the case of the IMF despite the efforts made to
coordinate European positions.
18
Integrating intergovernmental
solutions within the EU legal
framework
Several intergovernmental arrangements were
created during the crisis. This was explained by the
shortcomings of the EMU’s architecture but ultimately
they need to be integrated into the legal framework
of the European Union. This is already foreseen for the
Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance, and
should be done also for other cases, such as the Euro
Plus Pact and the intergovernmental agreement on the
Single Resolution Fund.
Finally, the European Stability Mechanism has
established itself as a central instrument to manage
potential crises. However, largely as a result of its
intergovernmental structure, its governance and
decision-making processes are complex and lengthy.
In the medium term (Stage 2), its governance should
therefore be fully integrated within the EU Treaties.
A central steer by the Eurogroup
The Eurogroup has a central role to play in discussing,
promoting and representing the interest of the euro
area. It will step up its involvement in the revamped
European Semester. In the short run, this may require
a reinforcement of its presidency and the means at
its disposal. In the longer run (Stage 2), a full-time
presidency of the Eurogroup could be considered with a
clear mandate within the framework of this report. With
the support of all EU institutions, it could play an even
greater role in representing the interest of the single
currency, within the euro area and beyond.
A euro area treasury
The Stability and Growth Pact remains the anchor for
fiscal stability and confidence in the respect of our
fiscal rules. In addition, a genuine Fiscal Union will
require more joint decision-making on fiscal policy.
This would not mean centralisation of all aspects of
revenue and expenditure policy. Euro area Member
States would continue to decide on taxation and the
allocation of budgetary expenditures according to
national preferences and political choices. However, as
the euro area evolves towards a genuine EMU, some
decisions will increasingly need to be made collectively
while ensuring democratic accountability and legitimacy.
A future euro area treasury could be the place for such
collective decision-making.
CONCLUSION
This report has put forward the principal steps
necessary to complete EMU at the latest by 2025. It
offers a roadmap that is ambitious yet pragmatic. Some
of these steps can and should be implemented without
delay. First initiatives to this end should be launched
by the EU institutions as of 1 July 2015. Others will
require more time. But above all, the report offers
a clear sense of direction for Europe’s EMU. This is
essential for citizens and economic actors alike, and for
their confidence in the single currency. Translating these
proposals into action will require a shared sense of
purpose among all Member States and EU institutions.
The European Council is invited to endorse these
proposals at the earliest occasion.
19Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union
©EuropeanCommission
20
Economic Union
ƒƒ A new boost to convergence, jobs and growth
•	 Creation of a euro area system of Competitiveness Authorities;
•	 Strengthened implementation of the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure;
•	 Greater focus on employment and social performance;
•	 Stronger coordination of economic policies within a revamped European Semester.
Financial Union
ƒƒ Complete the Banking Union
•	 Setting up a bridge financing mechanism for the Single Resolution Fund (SRF);
•	 Implementing concrete steps towards the common backstop to the SRF;
•	 Agreeing on a common Deposit Insurance Scheme;
•	 Improving the effectiveness of the instrument for direct bank recapitalisation in the European Stability
Mechanism (ESM).
ƒƒ Launch the Capital Markets Union
ƒƒ Reinforce the European Systemic Risk Board
Fiscal Union
ƒƒ A new advisory European Fiscal Board
•	 The board would provide a public and independent assessment, at European level, of how budgets –
and their execution – perform against the economic objectives and recommendations set out in the EU
fiscal framework. Its advice should feed into the decisions taken by the Commission in the context of the
European Semester.
Democratic accountability, legitimacy and institutional strengthening
ƒƒ Revamp the European Semester
•	 Reorganise the Semester in two consecutive stages, with the first stage devoted to the euro area as a
whole, before the discussion of country specific issues in the second stage.
ƒƒ Strengthen parliamentary control as part of the European Semester
•	 Plenary debate at the European Parliament on the Annual Growth Survey both before and after it is
issued by the Commission; followed by a plenary debate on the Country-Specific Recommendations;
•	 More systematic interactions between Commissioners and national Parliaments both on the CountrySpecific
Recommendations and on national budgets;
•	 More systematic consultation and involvement by governments of national Parliaments and social
partners before the annual submission of National Reform and Stability Programmes.
ƒƒ Increase the level of cooperation between the European Parliament and national
Parliaments
ƒƒ Reinforce the steer of the Eurogroup
ƒƒ Take steps towards a consolidated external representation of the euro area
ƒƒ Integrate into the framework of EU law the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and
Governance; the relevant parts of the Euro Plus Pact; and the Inter-governmental
Agreement on the Single Resolution Fund
IMMEDIATE STEPS
STAGE 1 1 JULY 2015 - 30 JUNE 2017
Annex 1
Roadmap Towards a Complete Economic and Monetary Union
21Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union
Economic Union
ƒƒ Formalise and make more binding the convergence process
Fiscal Union
ƒƒ Set up a macroeconomic stabilisation function for the euro area
•	 Convergence towards similarly resilient national economic structures would be a condition to access this
mechanism.
Democratic accountability, legitimacy and institutional strengthening
ƒƒ Integrate the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) into the EU law framework
ƒƒ Set up a euro area treasury accountable at the European level
COMPLETING THE EMU ARCHITECTURE
STAGE 2
FINAL STAGE AT THE LATEST BY 2025
22
Annex 2
A More Integrated European Semester
To better integrate the euro area and the national
levels, the European Semester should be structured
into two successive stages distinguishing more clearly
between a European moment and a national moment
(the figure below illustrates the new structure).
The first stage (November of year ‘n-1’ to February of
year ‘n’) would be devoted to assessing the situation
in the euro area as a whole. The Commission’s Annual
Growth Survey (AGS) would be the basis for this
discussion and would draw on a number of thematic
reports, such as the Alert Mechanism Report, the annual
report of the European Systemic Risk Board, the Joint
Employment and Social Report, as well as the views
of a new European Fiscal Board and the new euro
area system of Competitiveness Authorities. Together,
these reports would give a complete picture of euro
area challenges. The AGS would be presented to and
discussed by the European Parliament. At the same
time as the AGS, the Commission would present a
dedicated recommendation for action within the euro
area, as well as a list of Member States it considers
for ‘in-depth reviews’, according to the Macroeconomic
Imbalance Procedure (MIP). These documents would
be discussed with the European Parliament within the
framework of the economic dialogue, as foreseen in the
‘Six-Pack’ legislation, and with the different formations
of the Council and the Eurogroup. This means that by
end-February every year a genuine discussion will have
taken place on the priorities set for the EU, and the euro
area in particular, for the coming year.
The following stage (March to July of year ‘n’) would be
devoted to reviewing and assessing the performance
and policies of the Member States in the light of these
priorities. This is the phase where Member States should
systematically involve national Parliaments, together
with social partners and civil society, in the discussion
of national priorities. This stage will start with the
publication of the Commission’s Country Reports,
which summarise Member States’ challenges and
performance. This stage would end with the adoption of
Country-Specific Recommendations which should clearly
take into account the euro area dimension agreed in the
first stage.
EU-level social partners could be involved in discussions
earlier, for instance through a renewed Tripartite Social
Summit and Macroeconomic Dialogue, to maximise their
contributions to this new process.
Report by the European
Fiscal Board
Country Reports +
in-depth reviews for
certain countries
National Reform
Programmes Country-Specific
Recommendations
and opinions on
national budgets
National budgets
Stability Programmes
Report by European
Systemic Risk Board
on macroprudential issues
Report from Independent
Competitiveness
Authorities
Annual Growth Survey,
including Alert Mechanism,
aggregate fiscal stance,
country heterogeneity
Recommendations on
the euro area;
list of in-depth
country reviews
Joint Employment and
Social Report
A MORE INTEGRATED EUROPEAN SEMESTER
Euro Area:
November year n-1 to February year n
Country Level:
March to July year n
Annex 2
23Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union
Annex 3
Advisory European Fiscal
Board - Guiding Principles
The mandate of the advisory European Fiscal Board
should rest on the following principles:
•	 It should coordinate the network of national fiscal
councils and conform to the same standard of
independence.
•	 It should advise, not implement policy. Enforcing
the rules should remain the task of the European
Commission, which should be able to deviate from
the views of the European Fiscal Board provided that
it has justifiable reasons and explains them.
•	 It should form an economic, rather than a legal,
judgement on the appropriate fiscal stance, both at
national and euro area levels, against the background
of EU fiscal rules. This should be done on the basis of
the rules set in the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP).  
•	 It should be able to issue opinions when it considers
it necessary, including in particular in connection
with the assessment of Stability Programmes and
presentation of the annual Draft Budgetary Plans and
the execution of national budgets. 
•	 It should provide an ex post evaluation of how the
governance framework was implemented.
©EuropeanCommission