“The Eurozone Crisis” – A Book Debate
Kaarlo Tuori, Klaus Tuori. The Eurozone Crisis. A Constitutional Analysis. Cambridge University Press, 2014. Pp. 285. £19.99. ISBN: 9781107649453.
Taking a break from the ILA Biannual Conference and ASIL Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. to launch this book debate on Kaarlo Tuori’s and Klaus Tuori’s new book I need not stray from the Ronald Reagan Building to find illustrative examples that the Eurozone crisis is far from resolved and will haunt us for years to come. The New York Times reports today on the run of investors on the newly issued Greek debt and notes the disconnect between “the rush to profit” by investors and “the still fragile economic situation and rampant joblessness that continues to plague Greece and others”. At the ASIL panel “Women’s Economic Rights, International Law and the Financial Crisis” Anne Trebilcock criticized how social and labour policy have become a source of “flexibility” in crisis.
These are just two random expressions sharing the Tuori’s perception that the crisis might not be dealt with in a way that will leave us with a more democratic or more socially just or, even, more economically viable European Union. After their careful (and truly interdisciplinary) analysis of the (flawed) foundations of the European economic constitution and its modifications through legislation, intergovernmental treaty-making, decisions and judgments by the Court of Justice of the European Union and constitutional courts of member states they come to the conclusion: “In sum, we are not very optimistic.”
Hopefully the bleak assessments will not leave us paralysed, but will motivate us to think (and act) creatively on the future we want (and don’t want). The “Tuoris’” work and the comments by our reviewers invite us to continue our thinking on the future of European democracy, on the relationship between economics and democratic politics and the role the European constitution may play in linking the two. For this reason, when Jo Shaw, co-editor of the Cambridge Studies in European Law and Policy, suggested we discuss “The Eurozone Crisis” on the Verfassungsblog we were happy to take up her proposal. It allows us to follow up on previous debates on the blog on Eurocrisis management, and the future of the European Union (see, for example, here and here).
As always we invite readers to join in the discussion!