The Blueprint for a deep and genuine Economic and Monetary Union presented by the Commission

The European Commission presented a Blueprint for a 'deep and genuine' Economic and Monetary Union. According to the Commission, implementing this Blueprint will mean that all major economic and fiscal policy choices by Member States would be subject to deeper coordination, endorsement and surveillance at the European level.

The European Commission presented a Blueprint for a 'deep and genuine' Economic and Monetary Union, which provides, according to the European institution, a vision for a strong and stable architecture in the financial, fiscal, economic and political domains. The Blueprint sets out the path to a deep and genuine EMU, which involves incremental measures taken over the short, medium and longer term. Recently, MEPs called for enhancing the accountability to get an economic and monetary union strengthened.

Within of the Blueprint, the Commission stresses that part of the agenda can be delivered on the basis of the current Treaties, though part of it requires Treaty change. This must be built following basic principles such as that the deepening of EMU should build on the institutional and legal framework of the Treaties; the Euro Area must be able to integrate quicker and deeper than the EU at large, whilst preserving the integrity of the policies conducted at 27, notably the Single Market. Indeed, while the Treaties foresee that a number of rules apply only to Euro Area Member States, the present configuration of the Euro Area is only of a temporary nature, since all Member States but two (Denmark and the UK) are destined to become full members under the Treaties. In addition, increased democratic accountability must accompany any a Treaty change conferring further supranational powers on the EU level. The Commission highlights that one way to strengthen the EU's legitimacy would be to extend the competences of the Court of Justice.

This Blueprint is the Commission’s contribution to the report of the “four presidents” on the next steps for economic and monetary union. A final version of the report is being prepared by the President of the European Council in coordination with President Barroso, the President of the European Central Bank and the President of the Eurogroup, and will be discussed by the European Council on 13-14 December.