Description
The Eurozone crisis saw the proliferation of narratives positing sovereign debt as its main cause. Despite their controversial character, these narratives still open the question of how the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) affected the domestic fiscal politics of its member states in the first place, given how central deficit reductions were to the ‘nominal convergence’ efforts of the 1990s. In line with this, this thesis analyses the Europeanisation, that is, the extent and direction of change in response to European integration, of the Spanish and Italian fiscal regimes in the context of EMU accession. It traces the evolution of fiscal policymaking as a response to the Monetary Union’s requirements, analysing the interrelation and evolution of fiscal outcomes, policies, and environments, in two countries that despite belonging to the same capitalist type, started the decade with starkly different budgetary positions. Provisional findings include the qualitative and quantitative differences in the fiscal adjustment enacted; the mixed result of both countries complying with the deficit criterion, whilst not following the specific recommendations posited by European authorities; and the strengthening of the Ministry of Finance vis-à-vis other actors as a ‘core executive’. This thesis therefore contributes to debates about how the E(M)U influences capitalist restructuring processes in its member states, problematising the character and validity of ‘convergence’ as a political process in Europe.
