Open Access
Accidental neoliberalism : democratic accountability in the making of the Euro, 1957-92
Loading...
Files
Accidental_neoliberalism_2025.pdf (270.96 KB)
Full-text in Open Access, Published version
License
Attribution 4.0 International
Cadmus Permanent Link
Full-text via DOI
ISBN
ISSN
0960-7773; 1469-2171
Issue Date
Type of Publication
Keyword(s)
LC Subject Heading
Other Topic(s)
EUI Research Cluster(s)
Initial version
Published version
Succeeding version
Preceding version
Published version part
Earlier different version
Initial format
Author(s)
Citation
Contemporary European history, 2025, OnlineFirst
Cite
MOURLON-DRUOL, Emmanuel, Accidental neoliberalism : democratic accountability in the making of the Euro, 1957-92, Contemporary European history, 2025, OnlineFirst - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/92769
Abstract
Neoliberalism can be defined as the drive to shield capitalism from the scrutiny and accountability of democratic processes. This definition is particularly relevant to the creation of the euro, as it reflects some imbalances of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty creating the European Union (EU). The monetary union was designed to function with full independence, largely beyond the reach of democratic deliberations. This article investigates whether this outcome was intentional. It argues that the asymmetric structure of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was purposefully crafted, as the European policymakers involved in the negotiations were acutely aware of the imperfections of the system being developed. However, these shortcomings were not specifically aligned with a particular neoliberal ideology. Instead, this article shows they resulted from a broader set of concerns, primarily driven by a reluctance to centralise decision-making power at the EU level due to fears of losing aspects of national sovereignty. Understanding the unintentional nature of this outcome is crucial, as confusing what is accidental with what is deliberate can lead to misunderstandings about the motivations behind EMU and misconceive the paths for its reform.
Table of Contents
Additional Information
Published online: 29 May 2025
External Links
Publisher
Version
Research Projects
European Commission, 716849
Sponsorship and Funder Information
This article was published Open Access with the support from the EUI Library through the CRUI - CUP Transformative Agreement (2023-2025).
This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 716849).