European Economy. Quarterly report on the euro area 2010.

Abstract

The global economic and financial crisis has put the spotlight on the macroeconomic imbalances that had built up in a number of Member States during the decade. It has also underscored the shortcomings of economic policy making and policy coordination in the EU, and especially in the euro area. The Commission's resulting determination to play its part in redressing previous coordination failures was embodied in its Communication of 30 June on 'Enhancing economic policy coordination for stability, growth and jobs – Tools for stronger EU economic governance'. This outlined the main requirements for an overhaul of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) and proposed important extensions of EU economic surveillance into a previous blind spot, namely the area of macroeconomic imbalances.