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HomeThe centralization-decentralization issue
The centralization-decentralization issue
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The make-up of the EU institutions, and their evolution, should explicitly be based on widely accepted federalism principles. This paper applies federalism principles to a few crucial questions, mainly fiscal policy, fiscal discipline and structural reforms, using where possible lessons from existing federations. After introducing the topic, Section 2 briefly reviews the key message from the fiscal federalism literature. The following sections use these principles to examine a number of areas where centralization may be insufficient or excessive in the EU. Section 3 looks at public spending, both in the aggregate and main functions. Taxes are examined in Section 4. The next section looks at the issue of fiscal discipline, a weak spot of the Eurozone. The allocation of policy competences, a key characteristic of the UE, is the object of Section 6. The last section concludes.
- Published:
- Corporate author(s): Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (European Commission)
- Personal author(s): Wyplosz, Charles
- Themes: Economic policy — Economic and monetary union
- Subject: decentralisation , economic analysis , EU competence , EU Member State , federalism , fiscal policy , government policy
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| ISSN 2443-8022 | ISBN 978-92-79-48684-5 | DOI 10.2765/563396 | Catalogue number KC-BD-15-014-EN-N |
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| ISSN | ISBN 978-92-79-48683-8 | DOI 10.2765/499946 | Catalogue number KC-BD-15-014-EN-C |
- Released on EU Publications:
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