Fiscal capacity and constitutional reform in the EMU

Abstract

The origins of the financial and economic crisis of the euro system are state- and market-based democratic failures that the original regime of euro governance did not adequately address. It is only by fully understanding the democratic character of the crisis that we can appropriately understand the extent of the democratic challenges faced by Europe and the role of the European Union in this context. Two narratives of the current crisis exist. Whichever we may adopt, at the very core of the explanation lies the recognition of a democratic failure.