Economic union in the debates on the creation of the euro: new evidence from the tapes of the Delors Committee meetings

Abstract

Economic union is often said to have been overlooked in the negotiations on the creation of the euro. While there are many accounts of the government and central bankers’ negotiations to create the European single currency, the discussions within the Delors Committee which drafted a report outlining how to create an Economic and Monetary Union provide unique insights into the debates. Through a mixed-method analysis combining several text mining and network analysis techniques with a close reading of the transcripts, and a listening of the tapes, the article explores the debates that took place within the Committee. We identify which, when, by whom, and to what extent were different topics raised in the Committee, and find that economic union was the second most discussed topic during the Committee’s meetings, after the design and functioning of the future European central bank. The article further shows that the real absence from the debates was the question of banking regulation and supervision.