Macro economic trade-offs in the euro area: Chapter 4

The last year Report of the Five Presidents highlighted the necessity of progress in the EU in four directions: achieving “a genuine Economic Union, (…) a FinancialUnion, (…) a Fiscal Union, (and) a Political Union”. The associated roadmap for completing the EMU includes a greater focus on employment, a better implementation of the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure, a better assessment of fiscal stance and fiscal sustainability, the completion of the BankingUnion and the launch of a Capital Markets Union. They thus pointed to a very large set of ambitions which renewed the debate about the consistency ofexisting 6-pack, 2-pack and Fiscal compact, which were mainly related to fiscal and competitiveness issues. This roadmap raises an important question: is it possible within the given institutional setting to close the unemployment gap (the difference between actual and natural rates of unemployment), that is to say increase the “well-being of the peoples” (Art. 3 TEU) in a sustainable way, achieve public finance sustainability, reduce macro imbalances, and ensure the liquidity and solvency offinancial institutions and other objectives at the same moment?