Economic and Fiscal Governance: The Hardening of European Soft Law

45 Pages Posted: 21 Feb 2014

See all articles by Holly Jarman

Holly Jarman

University of Michigan

Scott L. Greer

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Department of Health Management and Policy

Date Written: February 16, 2014

Abstract

The European Union’s new architecture of fiscal and economic governance can be difficult to understand. How do two legislative packages, a treaty, a strategy and a “European Semester” interact to shape member state policies? This paper argues, on the basis of a review and presentation of the new fiscal governance architecture, that what we see is a hardening of European soft law. The new European Union fiscal governance involves both tougher and more automatic sanctions for states that violate the Stability and Growth Pact, and an expansion of mechanisms of surveillance and Commission involvement in member state economic and fiscal planning. The result is planned to combine the information and constant surveillance of soft law with the judicial enforceability and tough sanctions of hard law.

Keywords: European Union, fiscal governance, economic governance, law, soft law, governance, fiscal policy

JEL Classification: K00, H11, H30

Suggested Citation

Jarman, Holly and Greer, Scott L., Economic and Fiscal Governance: The Hardening of European Soft Law (February 16, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2398629 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2398629

Holly Jarman

University of Michigan ( email )

109 Observatory
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.hollyjarman.org

Scott L. Greer (Contact Author)

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Department of Health Management and Policy ( email )

109 Observatory
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029
United States

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