Hostname: page-component-55f67697df-2mk96 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-09T01:15:47.299Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

When Some Are More Equal than Others: National Parliaments and Intergovernmental Bailout Negotiations in the Eurozone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 January 2017

Manuela Moschella Open the ORCID record for Manuela Moschella [Opens in a new window]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article argues that the integration of financial assistance capacity in the eurozone, which was meant to remedy institutional shortcomings and mitigate the distributional implications of financial support in the European Monetary Union (EMU), has instead contributed to a deepening of the existing political cleavages and the creation of new ones. This dysfunctional effect reflects the empowerment of some national parliaments in decisions on financial assistance. These arguments are tested against the empirical examination of the negotiations of the three adjustment programmes for Greece. Specifically, the article shows that negotiations moved towards the radicalization of creditors’ positions and increased divisions between creditors in conjunction with the development of financial assistance capacity. While advancing its theses, the article strikes a note of caution regarding the argument that the empowerment of national parliaments in EU policymaking is one of the most powerful antidotes to its legitimacy deficit and thus a safeguard for the integration project.

Keywords

EMUfinancial assistancenational parliamentsintergovernmental negotiationsGreeceESM
Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 52 , Special Issue 2: Democracy without Solidarity: Political Dysfunction in Hard Times , April 2017 , pp. 239 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

*

Manuela Moschella is Associate Professor in International Political Economy at the Scuola Normale Superiore and Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). Contact email: [email protected].

References

Auel, K. and Höing, O. (2014), ‘Parliaments in the Euro Crisis: Can the Losers of Integration Still Fight Back?’, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 52(6): 1184–1193.Google Scholar
Baldwin, R. and Giavazzi, F. (2016) (eds), How to Fix Europe’s Monetary Union (London: CEPR Press).Google Scholar
Bastasin, C. (2012), Saving Europe: How National Politics Nearly Destroyed the Euro (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press).Google Scholar
Bellamy, R. and Kroger, S. (2016), ‘The Politicization of European Integration: National Parliaments and the Democratic Disconnect’, Comparative European Politics, 14(2): 125–130.Google Scholar
Bellamy, R. and Weale, A. (2015), ‘Political Legitimacy and European Monetary Union: Contracts, Constitutionalism and the Normative Logic of Two-Level Games’, Journal of European Public Policy, 22(2): 257–274.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bickerton, C.J., Hodson, D. and Puetter, U. (2015), ‘The New Intergovernmentalism: European Integration in the Post-Maastricht Era’, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 53(4): 703–722.Google Scholar
Bini Smaghi, L. (2015), ‘Governance and Conditionality: Toward a Sustainable Framework?’, Journal of European Integration, 37(7): 755–768.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BIS (Bank for International Settlements) (2009), Issues in the Governance of Central Banks (Basel: Bank for International Settlements).Google Scholar
Boughton, J.M. (2000), ‘From Suez to Tequila: The IMF as Crisis Manager’, Economic Journal, 110(460): 273–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulmer, S. (2014), ‘Germany and the Eurozone Crisis: Between Hegemony and Domestic Politics’, West European Politics, 37(6): 1244–1263.Google Scholar
Cooper, I. (2012), ‘A “Virtual Third Chamber” for the European Union? National Parliaments after the Treaty of Lisbon’, West European Politics, 35(3): 441–465.Google Scholar
De Vries, C.E. and Edwards, E.E. (2009), ‘Taking Europe to its Extremes: Extremist Parties and Public Euroscepticism’, Party Politics, 15(1): 5–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ECB (European Central Bank) (2011), ‘European Stability Mechanism’, Monthly Bulletin, July.Google Scholar
The Economist (2015), ‘Alexis Tsipras’s U-Turn’, 12 July.Google Scholar
EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility) (2014), ‘Extension of the EFSF Programme and EFSF Bonds for Greece’, 19 December.Google Scholar
ESM (European Stability Mechanism) (2015a), ‘FAQ on the Decision of the ESM Board of Governors to Grant, in Principle, Stability Support to Greece’, 17 July.Google Scholar
ESM (European Stability Mechanism) (2015b), ‘Procedure for Approval of New ESM Financial Assistance Programme’, 9 July.Google Scholar
European Commission (2012), ‘The Second Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece’, European Commission Occasional Papers, 94, March.Google Scholar
Fabbrini, S. (2015), Which European Union? Europe after the Euro Crisis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Fasone, C. (2014), ‘Eurozone, Non-Eurozone and “Troubled Asymmetries” among National Parliaments in the EU’, Perspectives on Federalism, 6(3): 1–141.Google Scholar
Featherstone, K. (2011), ‘The JCMS Annual Lecture: The Greek Sovereign Debt Crisis and EMU: A Failing State in a Skewed Regime’, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 49(2): 193–217.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2012a), ‘Call for EU to Control Greek Budget’, 27 January.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2012b), ‘Pressure Mounts on Greece over Bail-out’, 6 February.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2012c), ‘Greece Back in the Spotlight’, 4 October.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015a), ‘Greek Showdown Widens Merkel’s Rift with Schäuble’, 17 June.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015b), ‘Eurozone Leaders Reach Deal on Greece’, 13 July.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015c), ‘A Deal that is Costly Both for Greece and Europe’, 13 July.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015d), ‘Germany’s Ruling Coalition Closes Ranks on Greek Crisis’, 7 June.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015e), ‘German Brinkmanship Tests Eurozone Cohesion’, 13 July.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015f), ‘Eurozone Finance Ministers Split over Greece’, 11 July.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015g), ‘Greece Clash Sparks Fears over German Power’, 17 July.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015h), ‘Alexis Tsipras Loses Sigmar Gabriel, his Last Best Hope in Germany’, 8 July.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015i), ‘Germany’s Wolfgang Schäuble Puts Grexit Back on the Agenda’, 16 July.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015j), ‘European Commission and France Move to Keep Greece in Eurozone’, 7 July.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015k), ‘Eurozone’s Political Faultlines on Display at Greece Showdown’, 12 July.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015l), ‘Eurozone Officials in Deadlock over Greece’, 11 July.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015m), ‘Greece Nears €86bn Accord with Creditors’, 9 August.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015n), ‘Bailout Agreement Fails to Damp Greece Concerns’, 11 August.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015o), ‘Germany Criticizes Greek Bailout Agreement’, 12 August.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015p), ‘Greece Disqualified from New IMF Bailout, Board Told’, 30 July.Google Scholar
Financial Times (2015q), ‘Greece Strikes Outline of Debt Deal with Creditors’, 11 August.Google Scholar
Fischer, S. (1999), ‘On the Need for an International Lender of Last Resort’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 13(4): 85–104.Google Scholar
Fromage, D. (2015), ‘The ESM and National Parliaments: France’, article on Constitutional Change through Eurocrisis Law website, 28 July, http://eurocrisislaw.eui.eu/news/the-esm-and-national-parliaments-france-by-diane-fromage.Google Scholar
Giannini, C. (1999), ‘Enemy of None but a Common Friend of All? An Internatioanl Perspective on the Lender-of-Last-Resort Function’, IMF Working Paper, 99/10.Google Scholar
Gocaj, L. and Meunier, S. (2013), ‘Time Will Tell: The EFSF, the ESM, and the Euro Crisis’, Journal of European Integration, 35(3): 239–253.Google Scholar
Handelsblatt Global Edition (2015a), ‘Down to the Wire: Greece’s Long Weekend’, 10 July.Google Scholar
Handelsblatt Global Edition (2015b), ‘Euro Crisis: German Government Divided over Greece’, 20 July.Google Scholar
Handelsblatt Global Edition (2015c), ‘Gabriel’s Gamble: Social Democrats Get Tough on Greece’, 9 July.Google Scholar
Hodson, D. (2013), ‘The Little Engine that Wouldn’t: Supranational Entrepreneurship and the Barroso Commission’, Journal of European Integration, 35(3): 301–314.Google Scholar
Höing, O. (2012), ‘Differentiation of Parliamentary Powers: The German Constitutional Court and the German Bundestag Within the Financial Crisis’, OPAL Online Paper Series, 9.Google Scholar
Hooghe, L. and Marks, G. (2009), ‘A Postfunctionalist Theory of European Integration: From Permissive Consensus to Constraining Dissensus’, British Journal of Political Science, 39(1): 1–23.Google Scholar
Hug, S. and König, T. (2002), ‘In View of Ratification: Governmental Preferences and Domestic Constraints at the Amsterdam Intergovernmental Conference’, International Organization, 56(2): 447–476.Google Scholar
IMF (2011), ‘Greece: Fifth Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement. Appendix 1: Debt Sustainability Analysis’, IMF Country Report No. 11/351, December.Google Scholar
IMF (2013), Stocktaking the Fund’s Engagement with Regional Financing Arrangements (Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund).Google Scholar
Jones, E. (2012), ‘European Crisis, European Solidarity’, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 50(2): 53–67.Google Scholar
Jones, E., Kelemen, D.R. and Meunier, S. (2016), ‘Failing Forward? The Euro Crisis and the Incomplete Nature of European Integration’, Comparative Political Studies, 49(7): 1010–1034.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, E. and Matthijs, M. (2017), ‘Democracy without Solidarity: Political Dysfunction in Hard Times – Introduction to Special Issue’, Government and Opposition: An International Journal of Comparative Politics, in this issue, doi: 10.1017/gov.2016.47.Google Scholar
Kindleberger, C. (1973), The World in Depression, 1929–1939 (Berkeley: University of California Press).Google Scholar
Konig, T. and Slapin, J. (2004), ‘Bringing Parliaments Back in: The Sources of Power in the European Treaty Negotiations’, Journal of Theoretical Politics, 16(3): 357–394.Google Scholar
Kreilinger, V. (2015), ‘Asymmetric Parliamentary Powers: The Case of the Third Rescue Package for Greece’, blog post, Jacqued Delor Institute, 19 August, www.delorsinstitut.de/en/allgemein-en/asymmetric-parliamentary-powers-the-case-of-the-third-rescue-package-for-greece.Google Scholar
Kriesi, H. and Grande, E. (2014), ‘The Europeanization of National Political Debate’, in Cramme, O. and Hobolt, S.B. (eds), Democratic Politics in a European Union Under Stress (Oxford: Oxford University Press): 67–86.Google Scholar
Leupold, A. (2016), ‘A Structural Approach to Politicisation in the Euro Crisis’, West European Politics, 39(1): 84–103.Google Scholar
Matthijs, M. (2016), ‘Powerful Rules Governing the Euro: The Perverse Logic of German Ideas’, Journal of European Public Policy, 23(3): 375–391.Google Scholar
Matthijs, M. and Blyth, M. (2015) (eds), The Future of the Euro (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Milner, H. and Rosendorff, B.P. (1996), ‘Trade Negotiations, Information and Domestic Politics’, Economics and Politics, 8(2): 145–189.Google Scholar
Moschella, M. (2016), ‘Negotiating Greece: Layering, Insulation, and the Design of Adjustment Programs’, Review of International Political Economy, 23(5): 799–824.Google Scholar
Puetter, U. (2012), ‘Europe’s Deliberative Intergovernmentalism: The Role of the Council and European Council in EU Economic Governance’, Journal of European Public Policy, 19(2): 161–178.Google Scholar
Puetter, U. (2014), The European Council and the Council. New Intergovernmentalism and Institutional Change (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Putnam, R.D. (1988), ‘Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games’, International Organization, 42(3): 427–460.Google Scholar
Rickard, S.J. and Caraway, T.L. (2014), ‘International Negotiations in the Shadow of National Elections’, International Organization, 68(3): 701–720.Google Scholar
Roth, F., Jonung, L. and Nowak-Lehmann, F. (2015), ‘Crisis and Public Support for the Euro, 1990–2014’, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 54(4): 944–960.Google Scholar
Schimmelfennig, F. (2015), ‘Liberal Intergovernmentalism and the Euro Area Crisis’, Journal of European Public Policy, 22(2): 177–195.Google Scholar
Schimmelfennig, F. and Winzen, T. (2014), ‘Instrumental and Constitutional Differentiation in the European Union’, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 52(2): 354–370.Google Scholar
Schmidt, V.A. (2015), The Eurozone’s Crisis of Democratic Legitimacy Can the EU Rebuild Public Trust and Support for European Economic Integration?’, European Commission European Economy Discussion Papers.Google Scholar
Schwarzer, D. (2015), ‘Building the Euro Area’s Debt Crisis Management Capacity with the IMF’, Review of International Political Economy, 22(3): 599–625.Google Scholar
Spiegel, P. (2014), ‘How the Euro Was Saved – Part 1’, Financial Times, 11 May.Google Scholar
Spiegel Online International (2012a), ‘The World from Berlin – “The EU Will Pay Even if Greece Doesn’t Deliver”’, 25 January.Google Scholar
Spiegel Online International (2012b), ‘More Money for the Euro – Merkel’s Government Divided over ESM Demands’, 5 March.Google Scholar
Spiegel Online International (2012c), ‘The World from Berlin – Second Bailout for Greece “Will Not Be the Last”’, 28 February.Google Scholar
Spiegel Online International (2012d), ‘Euro Group Delays Meeting – Berlin Grows Impatient over Greece’, 15 February.Google Scholar
Spiegel Online International (2012e), ‘Speech Ahead of Vote – Merkel Says Benefits of Greek Package Outweigh Risks’, 27 February.Google Scholar
Spiegel Online International (2015f), ‘Schäuble’s Push for Grexit Puts Merkel on Defensive’, 17 July.Google Scholar
La Stampa (2015), ‘Padoan: “Questa Ue non va. Atene recuperi credibilità”’, 19 July.Google Scholar
Tsebelis, G. (2016), ‘Lessons from the Greek Crisis’, Journal of European Public Policy, 23(1): 24–41.Google Scholar
Tsebelis, G. and Hahm, H. (2014), ‘Suspending Vetoes: How the Euro Countries Achieved Unanimity in the Fiscal Compact’, Journal of European Public Policy, 21(10): 1388–1411.Google Scholar
Tucker, P. (2014), ‘The Lender of Last Resort and Modern Central Banking: Principles and Reconstruction’, BIS Papers No 79.Google Scholar
Winzen, T. (2012), ‘National Parliamentary Control of European Union Affairs: A Cross-national and Longitudinal Comparison’, West European Politics, 35(3): 657–672.Google Scholar
Winzen, T. and Schimmelfennig, F. (2016), ‘Explaining Differentiation in European Union Treaties’, European Union Politics, 1(4): 616–637.Google Scholar