The political economy of euro area sovereign debt restructuring

Friedrich Heinemann

No 21-004, ZEW Discussion Papers from ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Abstract: The establishment of a sovereign debt restructuring mechanism (SDRM) is one of the important issues in the academic debate on a viable constitution for the European Monetary Union (EMU). Yet the topic seems to be taboo in official reform contributions to the debate. Against this backdrop, the article identifies the SDRM interests of key players, including the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Central Bank and national governments. The empirical section takes advantage of the recently established EMU Positions Database. The findings confirm political economy expectations: Low-debt countries support an EMU constitution that includes an insolvency procedure whereas a coalition of high-debt countries and European institutions oppose it. The analysis points towards a possible political-economic equilibrium for coping with sovereign insolvencies: an institutional set-up without a SDRM and with hidden transfers. Recent European fiscal innovatios in response to the Covid-19 solvency shock confirm this prediction.

Keywords: sovereign debt restructuring mechanism; banking regulation; EMU reform; fiscal union (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F53 H63 H87 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba and nep-eec
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:zewdip:21004

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