Zum „Bericht zur Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion in der Europäischen Gemeinschaft“ des „Ausschusses zur Prüfung der Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion“ | „Delors-Bericht“

“Report on Economic and Monetary Union in the European Community” This contribution discusses in a critical manner the central results of the Delors Report. The reason the experts give for the need to run more closely coordinated monetary and fiscal policies as early as from 1 July 1990 (stage I) is the liberalization of financial markets in the large EC member states planned for that date. It is argued that the EMS is in a position to bring about effective monetary policy coordination also in an environment of free capital movements. At this stage, the monetary policy problem is the existence, side by side, of direct coordination (through the council of governors) and of indirect coordination (through the EMS mechanisms with the Deutsche Bundesbank as the stability guardian) which may turn out to be detrimental to monetary stability in Europe. Stage II provides that the council of governors is replaced by a European system of institutionally fully developed central banks; at this stage, the monetary policy responsibilities are to be transferred from national to Community institutions. It is this important point on which the Report is particularly unspecific, which gravely affects its suitability as a schedule for integration. The ultimate character of economic and monetary union unconditionally corresponds, as far as monetary union is concerned, to the concepts developed mainly in the Federal Republic of Germany (independence, commitment to monetary stability, federal structure). The perceptions regarding economic union (binding requirements formulated by the EC Council of Ministers for national budget deficits), on the other hand, go far beyond what is necessary. These perceptions prepare the ground for a European demand management system through an institution that is not subject to parliamentary control