Treść książki

Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
6.COUNTRYSELECTIONCRITERIACASESTUDIES
alreadymentioned,relativelyquicklyexceededthebasevalueforthebudgetdeficit0
Reducingthereferencevalueofthepublicdebt(60%ofGDP)wasalsounsuccessful0
ThenextcollapseofthebudgetbalanceinGermanyfollowedthefinancialcrisisin
2009and,inthesameyear,theExcessivedeficitprocedure(EDP)wasimposedon
thecountry0However,thestateoftheeconomyandpublicfinancesofGermanyhas
improvedrelativelyquickly,theEDPwasclosedin2013,whichmeans,amongothers,
thattheeconomywasmoreresistanttothecrisisthaneconomiesofmanyotherEU
memberstates0Itisalsoworthemphasizingthatthiscountrywasinvolvedtoasignif-
icantextentdirectlyorindirectlyinrescueoperationsagainstothercountries
(governments),especiallyGreece,SpainandPortugal0
Fromthepointofviewoftheanalysedsubject,whichisdiscipliningpublicfinances,
thecaseofGermanyisalsoimportantbecauseitshowsthatdespitethedominant
economicandpoliticalpositionofGermanyintheEuropeanUnionandintheeuro
area,disputesandcontroversiesbetweenthiscountryandtheEUinstitutionsalso
occurred0Theyappearedwhichwasalsoalreadypointedout,almostatthebeginning
ofthecreationoftheeuroarea0ThesubjectofthedisputewastheGermanStability
Programmefor2002–2005,draftedbytheGermangovernment,andassessedbythe
EuropeanUnionastoooptimistic0TheexampleofGermanyisalsoimportantfor
anotherreason,namelyitdrawsattentiontothefunctioningofEuropeanUnionbod-
iessuchas:EuropeanCommission,CounciloftheEuropeanUnion,EuropeanCourt
ofJusticeintheanalysedfiscalissues0Thismatterisnotgoingtobeelaboratedhere,
becauseaseparatechapterofthebookhasbeendevotedtothecaseofGermany0
Itisworthnoting,however,thattheexampleofGermanyandthecontroversyoccur-
ringatthebeginningoftheexistenceoftheeuroareaconfirminstitutionalweaknesses
(gaps)resultingfromvaguelydefinedcompetencesoftheEuropeanUnionbodiesin
thefiscalsupervisionsystemandinthelegalorder0Thesituationwaschangedonly
withtheadoptionoftheSix-Packandsubsequentlegalacts(FiscalCompact,theTwo
-Pack)0Theissueswerepartlyaddressedinthischapter,andwillbeanalysedinmore
detaillaterinthiswork(Chapter2)0
ThechoiceoftheUnitedKingdomforathoroughanalysisoftheprocessesofdisci-
pliningpublicfinancesresultedfromthefactthatthiscountry,asalreadymentioned,
hadanimportantfeature,undoubtedlyautonomousmonetarypolicy0However,there
aremanyotherimportantreasonswhytheUKisaninterestingcaseofresearch0The
countryisoneofthelargestfinancialcentresintheworld,witharound20%ofitsGDP
generatedinthefinancialsector0However,suchahighshareofthefinancialsector
intheUKeconomymeantthatthecountry,liketheUSA,wasdangerouslyexposed
tothefinancialcrisis0Thecontemporaryfinancialmarketsoftheworldconstitute
asystemofconnectedvessels0Thischaracteristicfeaturehasbeenfullyconfirmedin
thecaseoftheUKduringtherecentfinancialcrisis,whichhitthecountrywithagreat
force0GordonBrown’sLabourGovernmentwasforcedtoundertakeextensiverescue
41