Περίληψη : | This paper negotiates the matter of fiscal policy in the EU after the decision of creating a monetary union with a single currency and its course throughout its different stages as well as the economic crisis that struck Europe in 2008. To do so, a number of different opinions will be presented by writers and economists as expressed in various papers but also in official texts and manuals published by European Institutions and the International Monetary Fund.The first stages of the EMU that were escorted with large fiscal adjustments for the majority of the Member-States are succeeded by a period where the fiscal rule as stated in the Stability and Growth Pact is abandoned and fiscal policy is used individually and not for ensuring Stability in the Euro-area. This behavior was also enhanced by the loopholes existing both in the Maastricht Treaty but also in the SGP. These unspecified matters were partially addressed by the 2005 SGP reform but more efficiently by the reforms taking place in 2011 and 2013 and while the crisis was still going strong. In order to try and surpass this drawback, a lot of MS have adopted national fiscal rules and this tendency has been increasing especially since 2008.A big part of this paper is also dedicated to the European fiscal crisis. For this purpose, it was crucial to present the four countries of the Eurozone that were under adjustment Programs for financial (Ireland and Spain) and fiscal reasons (Greece). All these countries besides Greece have successfully concluded their Programs and their fiscal indicators to this point seem to be in the right track. However, the need to continuous reforms is still evident in all of them since basic economic sectors (labor markets, banking sector) haven’t been restored to sein levels.In addition, the EU’s prosperity indicators have been quite low after the crisis when compared with the ones of its global competitors and for this reason, the idea of completing the monetary union but also creating a fiscal union should be under discussions. To this subject, there are certainly advantages and disadvantages but it seems important to do those steps that could probably shield Eurozone from another major systemic crisis.
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