Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 01/2014

Proposal for a Stabilisation Fund for the EMU

Bernard Delbecque

October 2013

Centre for European Policy Studies

Abstract

This paper argues that it should be possible to complement Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union with an insurance-type shock absorption mechanism to increase the resilience of member countries to economic shocks and reduce output volatility. Such a mechanism would neither require the establishment of a central authority, nor would it lead to permanent transfers between countries. For this mechanism to become a reality, however, it would be necessary to overcome certain technical problems linked to the difficulty of anticipating correctly the position of an economy in the business cycle.