Institutional, Legal and Economic Aspects of the EMU

This books analyses in four parts some of the major aspects of the unique architecture of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) of the European Union. The first part deals with the problems of the institutional set-up of the EMU: the legal position of the European Central Bank; the excessive reserves in the Euro system; the "Maastricht conformity” of the public undertakings. The asymmetric architecture of the EMU (centralised monetary policy and decentralised fiscal policy; policy coordination; the stability and growth pact) is analysed in part two. The third part covers the monetary aspects of the EMU: the monetary policy of the ECB; the technical aspects of the specific payment system in the ESCB; the role of the Euro as an international currency and the explanations of its weakness. The concluding part looks at the problems connected with EU enlargement: are the candidate countries really ready for the EMU (degree of business cycle conformity); the problems of the banking system in the CEECs.