The Euro at Ten: Europeanization, Power, and Convergence

With Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) the European Union is embarked on a major historic political project of formidable technical complexity. In January 2009 the Euro Area will be ten years old. What does the evidence from the first decade tell us about the significance of the euro for the EU and its member states? This book brings together a range of recognized academic specialists to examine the main political aspects of this question. How, and in what ways, has the euro Europeanized states (members and non-members), their institutions, policies and politics? What have been its effects on the location and use of power? Has the euro generated convergence or divergence? What political patterns can be identified? The book offers the first, in-depth and systematic political analysis of the first decade of the euro. It places the euro in its global and European contexts; offers a set of case studies of its effects on a representative sample of EU member states (‘Anglo-Saxon’, old ‘D-Mark Zone’, east central European and Baltic, Mediterranean, and Nordic); and looks at three key sectors (financial markets, wages and collective bargaining, and welfare reform). The book contributes to Europeanization studies, comparative political economy, and studies of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). It will be of major interest to students of the European Union and European integration, comparative European politics, and area and ‘country’ studies.