The road towards a genuine economic and monetary union: more competitive and fairer

This chapter discusses the possibility of the development of the European Union towards a genuine Economic andMonetary Union (GEMU) that reconciles competitiveness and the European social model. It argues that progress on GEMU cannot be seen out of the context of a European model that is as yet incomplete, especially in its social dimension. The creation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) has triggered a qualitative change in European integration, because its constraints need to be internalized across member states’ varieties of capitalism and policy areas while reforms continue to hinge on loose coordination. Yet, efforts did not advance beyond attempts at making constrained decentralization more effective. National ownership-building remains critical to ensure the support for necessary reforms and the capacity to adjust to shocks, but, in this way, it is a conducive reform narrative. This chapter argues that economic and institutional modernization, as well as the sustainability of both the Eurozone and the European integration project, hingeon a future-oriented European model backed by European citizens’ preferences, which is not only competitive but also fair. The recent EMU-driven European Pillar of Social Rights is a logical, albeit belated, step in this direction.