A tale of two treatises: the Werner and Delors Reports and the birth of the euro. Bruegel Essay, February 2024.

Maes , Ivo (2024) A tale of two treatises: the Werner and Delors Reports and the birth of the euro. Bruegel Essay, February 2024. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

In the process towards European economic and monetary union, two reports played crucial roles. The 1970 Werner Report argued for both a supranational monetary pillar and a supranational economic pillar, while the 1989 Delors Report focused on the monetary pillar, and there was scepticism about discretionary fiscal policy. A background paper to the Delors Report, The Werner Report Revisited, identified four weaknesses of the Werner Report: absence of internal momentum, institutional ambiguities, insufficient constraints on national policies and an inappropriate policy conception – issues that remain very much on the European Union agenda today.

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