The Principal Coordinator [Prof. Dr. Eduardo Manuel Hintze da Paz Ferreira] and the Principal Researcher of this Group [Prof. Dr. Nazaré Costa Cabral] define the policy and strategy of the projects and activities carried out by the participating researchers and assume the responsibility for the organization and follow up of the inter-related projects.
Currently, the European Union (EU) is facing the dilemma of how to carry on with its project; the origins of the dilemma are both political (to know if Europe wishes to strengthen its political roots) and economic [the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)]. EMU was not conceived to deal with recession periods like the financial crisis of 2008-2009 whose impact is still felt today. The crisis has shown the limitations of the original governance structure developed to manage a transfer of monetary sovereignty to the EU (with the European Central Bank and the European System of Central Banks assuming a paramount role) and the nominal control of economic policies by member states elected parliaments and democratically controlled governments.
This Group will identify the origins of the current crisis (the financial crisis, or the so-called ‘sovereign debt crisis’) and critically analyze the EU responses to it, since 2008, in the context of the Economic and Monetary Union project. Special attention will be given to some recent legal instruments, like the so-called ‘Six Pack’, the Fiscal Compact and the ‘Two Pack’. The Group will consider the challenges that the EU, BRICs, Developing countries (especially Lusophone) the USA and other OECD and non-OECD countries face taking into account the current budget policies.
The Group’s research interacts with the research of Group II, but adopt the perspective of monetary integration of sovereign states, analyzing the tensions that are evident between the current (and envisaged) level of monetary integration and the consequent limits imposed on sovereign states and their democratic systems, with the aim to define adequate public policies to improve standards of living and guaranteeing the so-called European social model.
This Group will cooperate and simultaneously develop 4 projects during the period 2015-2020: