This course investigates one of the key features of the European Union, namely European Economic Governance. In order to make the Single Market work, the European Union and its member states are repeatedly confronted with the challenge of coordinating and integrating diverse national economic models and policies. In this course, students will learn about the main current features of European Economic Governance, how they originated, and they main political disputes they channel. In addition, the course will engage students with academic debates about the extent to which power in EEG is located more at the supranational or intergovernmental level, whether decision-making procedures are more technocratic or democratic, and whether EEG promotes more a neoliberal or a social-welfare-based economic model. The course equips students both with knowledge and critical thinking about how the European economy is governed.

Course overview:
Session 1- Introduction: the ‘governance’ concept and its application in Europe
Session 2- Key aspects of European Economic Governance and their history
Session 3- The challenge of integrating diverse economies
Session 4- What are the contents of European country-specific recommendations?
Session 5- Is there flexibility in European Economic Governance?
Session 6- Who decides on the European Semester?
Session 7- Bargaining within the Council: coalitions and conflicts
Session 8- The role of parliaments in European economic governance
Session 9- The importance and accountability of the European Central Bank
Session 10- Other accountability problems in European economic governance
Session 11- European economic governance after the Covid-19 pandemic

This course combines lectures with in-class discussions. Students are expected to read the readings up front and actively reflect about the key aspects of European economic governance.

Examination:
(1) Three times a 300-500 word response paper: one for sessions 3-5, one for sessions 6-8, and one for sessions 9-11. The response papers will also be used for in-class discussions and need to be delivered 24 hours before class. In the response paper, students are asked to initiate a critical reflection on at least one of the readings assigned for the class.
(2) A 2000-word essay In the final essay, students are asked to take position and elaborate their argument about one of the key questions around European Economic Governance. Examples of such questions are (but are not limited to):
– In EEG, is power located more at the supranational or intergovernmental level?
– Are decision-making procedures are more technocratic or democratic?
– Overall, does EEG promotes more a neoliberal or a social-welfare-based economic model?
– Does EEG enhance democracy within the EU and its member states, or does it constrain it?