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This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the fiscal governance of the European Union (EU) from the Maastricht Treaty (1992) to the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact (2024) until the new wave of defence spending in Europe in 2025. It shows how and why the stability paradigm of Economic and Monetary Union has changed across three major crises (the euro crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia s invasion of Ukraine) as a compromise between different fiscal ideas supported in particular by Germany, France and Italy. Since the intricate set of fiscal rules has become increasingly more flexible to allow for more spending both at the national and the European level, the book investigates to what extent the original stability paradigm has been replaced by a new fiscal paradigm. It zooms on the drivers behind crucial moments of fiscal change and reflects upon the implications on the future of the EU. The book will appeal to scholars, practitioners and students of EU fiscal integration in political science, public administration, and law.
List of contents
1. Introduction.- 2. The fiscal powers of the EU from the beginning to the euro crisis.- 3. The fiscal powers of the EU triggered by the euro crisis.- 4. The fiscal powers of the EU triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.- 5. The fiscal powers of federal states: Germany.- 6. The fiscal powers of federal unions: Switzerland.- 7. Conclusions.
About the author
Tiziano Zgaga is the Principal Investigator of the three-year project (2025-2028) “Towards a post-pandemic fiscal union? Differentiated member state governance of EU money: the National Recovery and Resilience Plans” (EUMONEY), financed by the
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Agency) and conducted at the Geschwister-Scholl-Institute of Political Science at the LMU Munich, Germany. From 2021 to 2025, he has been postdoctoral researcher at the University of Konstanz, Germany. Tiziano Zgaga specialised in EU integration, Europeanization and comparative public administration, especially in the fiscal realm.
Summary
This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the fiscal governance of the European Union (EU) from the Maastricht Treaty (1992) to the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact (2024) until the new wave of ‘defence spending’ in Europe in 2025. It shows how and why the stability paradigm of Economic and Monetary Union has changed across three major crises (the euro crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) as a compromise between different fiscal ideas supported in particular by Germany, France and Italy. Since the intricate set of fiscal rules has become increasingly more flexible to allow for more spending both at the national and the European level, the book investigates to what extent the original stability paradigm has been replaced by a new fiscal paradigm. It zooms on the drivers behind crucial moments of fiscal change and reflects upon the implications on the future of the EU. The book will appeal to scholars, practitioners and students of EU fiscal integration in political science, public administration, and law.
