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A Europe of Creditors and Debtors: Three Orders of Debt Relations in European Integration
Author(s) -
Losada Fernando
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
jcms: journal of common market studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.54
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1468-5965
pISSN - 0021-9886
DOI - 10.1111/jcms.12988
Subject(s) - european debt crisis , internal debt , debt levels and flows , debt crisis , debt , debt to gdp ratio , economic and monetary union , creditor , context (archaeology) , economics , external debt , sovereignty , senior debt , international economics , european integration , european union , political science , macroeconomics , geography , law , politics , archaeology
This article proposes a debt‐based narrative able to explain both structural and substantive changes in European integration. The narrative results from a study of the dynamics of three different sources of external debt —cross‐border trade, sovereign debt and direct debt relations between member states– in the context of the successive stages of macroeconomic integration. The outcome is the identification of three cumulative orders of debt relations that can reveal the main features of the concrete constellation of power corresponding to each of those stages. Hence, cross‐border trade was decisive during the decades of monetary cooperation. Once the European Monetary Union was agreed in Maastricht, sovereign debt, as perceived by market actors, played the key role. Finally, since the sovereign debt crisis direct debt relations between member states are essential. The EU institutional system has accordingly adapted to these different constellations and nowadays guarantees the full repayment of debts to fellow member states.