Fiscal policy coordination: a necessary step for the Eurozone recovery

officially abandoned as the European Central Bank (ECB) launched the Quantitative Easing (QE) programme of State bonds purchases on secondary markets. The European Court of Justice’s attorney general has certified that the QE programme is not in contrast with the EZ Treaties, but it certainly breaches the established interpretation regarding the latitude of the ECB room of manoeuvre within its mandate. In November 201 the newly appointed European Commission has launched an investment programme, the most significant impact of which is the message that, in principle, there can be a common pool of resources for governments to spend off the books of the Excessive Deficit Procedure1. Also, the “flexibility ” issue raised by Italy and France regarding timing and extent of application of the fiscal rules vis-à-vis contingent macroeconomic conditions is no longer taboo, and a few steps forward have been made in that direction (albeit the pro-cyclical maze of rules rests untouched). And of course, a major political change took place in Greece and may affect the whole of Europe. These seeds of regime shift come from overwhelming pressure of economic, social and political crises all across Europe, a widening divergence of policy strategies with major partners and official institution