10 - How to Reform the EU and the EMU

Summary

Chapter 10 deals with microeconomic policies, which are normally complementary to macroeconomic ones and therefore must be implemented in addition to, or in conjunction with, them. No analysis of macroeconomic policies can do without a parallel study of the microeconomic ones, which can pursue multiple objectives at a time. Some reforms do not involve costs for the EZ as a whole and only require law amendments or regulation for coordination of different policies. Pursuance of many of the targets of microeconomic policies requires instead availability of funds. From this point of view, the scope of these policies is severely limited currently at the EZ level. In addition, the Commission has recognized that funds are spread over too many programmes and instruments. The need arises that the new budget overcomes the current failure to distinguish between economic, social and territorial cohesion and between the intermediate steps necessary to guarantee each. Mixture of the final objectives can only cloud the assessment of each project and make check of its implementation difficult. Some improvement would derive from the indication of fixed targets for each goal. More decisive improvements would require further enlarging the EU budget and focusing on specific targets.