Crisis Management and Economic Integration within the European Monetary Union

This paper aims at exploring whether the EU Economic and Monetary Union serves as one of the pillars of crisis resilience in the European Union. In this regard, the paper demonstrates how the combination of the common monetary policy, improvements in terms of fiscal coordination and the introduction of the new supranational instruments for economic stabilization significantly increased the ability of the European Union to face economic, financial and other types of challenges. This analysis is focused on such instruments as the ESM and NextGenerationEU programme, which function as fiscal risk sharing tools, as well as mechanisms of economic recovery financing and long-term investments. This paper demonstrates that coordinated monetary efforts of the ECB combined with the improvements of fiscal governance contributed to stabilizing sovereign debt markets. At the same time, such actions helped increase the degree of financial integration and preserve investors′ trust during the times of high uncertainties. Further analysis proves that EMU has moved from being a pure monetary structure to becoming a more holistic mechanism for managing crises, promoting convergence and sustainable development, including support of green and digital transitions in the euro area. Thus, the EMU is no longer merely a structure of managing crisis but also an important driver of economic integration and cohesion.