Does Greater Responsibility for the EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Mean More Stability for Monetary Union?

In line with a proposal put forward by Wolfgang Schäuble, the EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs should exercise a strong influence over the budgets of the euro member states. A politically independent EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs focused exclusively on budgetary policy could constitute the pillar of a common economic and monetary union, according to Thomas Straubhaar, Hamburgisches WeltWirtschaftsInstitutHWWi, in an article in the ifo Schnelldienst 22/2012. However, it remains more than questionable from today’s perspective whether an EU financial commissioner will really be given the responsibility to order preventative, or even repressive measures. This makes Wolfgang Schäuble’s proposal logical and valid in substance, but leaves it (far from) enforceable in practice.