The Future of the Eurozone: Towards a European Benchmark

Abstract

The European sovereign debt crisis has demonstrated the need for a rethinking of the European Integration Project. The strong variety between member countries prevented the Eurozone to become a fiscal and political union and the asymmetric architecture of the European Monetary Union (EMU) revealed different weaknesses. The outbreak of the Covid-19 emergency may represent a turning point for the EU and makes even more evident that the future of the Eurozone will depend also on the ability of member countries to make their institutional frameworks coexist. Helping member countries to achieve sustainable and stable outcomes, although in idiosyncratic ways, is the task of the European benchmark. It is a framework, inspired by European treaties, that aims to identify inefficiencies in terms of market, state and social failures and negative externalities inside economic, social, and political institutions. This benchmark represents a new tool for a correct evaluation of the economic, social, and political performance of the European member countries.