Browsing by Author "Matos, Nuno Albuquerque"
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- Application of rules or policies in the ECB? Legal and institutional challenges impacting the climate transitionPublication . Matos, Nuno AlbuquerqueThe paper argues that the ECB is far less an independent institution as Treaty provisions portray. This is due to the lack of institutional alternatives at the EU level to effectively and rapidly deal with complex situations make it the only credible solution, even if very imperfect. This state of affairs does not allow a comparative institutional analysis to be conducted, which is crucial to good public policy decisions. Significantly, the ECB has experienced two different periods: a frictionless and a complex one.The latter has been characterized by increasing monetary policy alignment with the European Council’s political decisions, having materialized in intervention in Member States’ bond markets during the financial and covid-19 crises. The overrelianceon the ECB has recently been consolidated, as it decided to address the issue of climate change from a monetary standpoint in order to speed up the climate transition. However, this trend may not be consistent with its primary mandate of maintaining price stability and, in different ways, may hinder its independence.
- Balancing the relationship between the Union and Member States through the market processPublication . Matos, Nuno AlbuquerqueThere are mainly two paths to fiscal discipline within a federation or within a monetary union: either through markets or through hierarchy. By establishing the no-bailout clause, the Stability and Growth Pact and the Excessive Deficit Procedure, it was thought that the Maastricht Treaty had chosen market mechanisms to achieve that objective. However, the financial crisis showed the severe shortcomings of the model, marking a shift towards surveillance. This article argues that such failure was not due to the market mechanism but by flawed institutional choices. By establishing a procedure for fiscal adjustment, Member States cast doubt on the credibility of the no-bail out clause and took matters into the political realm. As a result, the political process was at the forefront since inception. There are several ways to deliver a certain social goal. Accordingly, goal choice and institutional choice are inextricably linked because it is the institutional choice which connects goals with their legal or public policy results. Importantly, to choose the best avenue comparative institutional analysis needs to be conducted. After briefly considering the political process, this article purports that other processes should be fully explored. When addressing the financial crisis in multi-level governance, some alternatives have already been employed: state default and supranational bailout. Within the EMU, no State has defaulted on its debt obligations prior to receiving a bailout. However, there is room to explore an option that would be based on market mechanisms with judicial elements while reducing dependence on the political process in the long-term: allowing Member States to orderly default on their debts. The article discusses its main problems, constitutional admissibility and democratic necessity.
- Judicialization of economic and monetary union: between a rock and a soft place?Publication . Matos, Nuno AlbuquerqueThe European Central Bank has been active since the sovereign debt crisis that struck European Union Member States by putting in place several asset-purchasing programmes such as Outright Monetary Transactions and Public Sector Purchase Programme. As much as these decisions have proven the pivotal importance of this institution within the monetary union, they have also spurred controversy on potentially having exceeded the competences attributed to the Union. The german federal constitutional court heard challenges to both and requested the Court of Justice to decide on their validity within the framework of a preliminary ruling. The decision of the former court to declare the Public Sector Purchase Programme ultra vires -in this way countering the preliminary ruling decision- as well as its argumentation could produce many institutional consequences to both the European Central Bank and Court of Justice of the European Union. Finally, it has shown the limits of European Union integration and will inevitably propel discussions on which way to go in the future: It is time for this discussion to come out from courtrooms into the public sphere.
- Next Generation EU and the balancing of economic union through horizontalisationPublication . Matos, Nuno AlbuquerqueThe EU has developed a vertical relation with its Member States on economic and monetary policies as well as national parliaments. Next Generation EU arguably breaks with this verticalisation, by shifting the focus of the political process from Member State-coordination to EU-led fiscal funding. Facing complex events, such as the covid-19 pandemic and the current security and energy crises, the limits of inter-State coordination became clear. However, NGEU also represents continuity, as verticalisation endures, therefore blurring the transnational nature of the programme. In addition, NGEU pales in comparison with the US response to the pandemic. EU citizens increasingly demand Union-wide policies. However, Member States are not capable of delivering in the European Council, given that Heads of State or Government’s democratic mandate favour the adoption of policies with an eminent national nature. Hence, this participation mismatch needs to be addressed in order to better reflect majoritarian preferences over minoritarian bias as shown in the EU budgetary sagas on juste retour. Therefore, this paper argues that direct taxation of EU citizens is the least imperfect way to achieve it.