Abstract

The current economic crisis strongly affected European countries and the European Union EU as a whole. As a consequence of crisis, economic growth has declined and unemployment rate has increased rapidly in the EU. Besides, there have been large increases in budget deficits, leading to considerable rises in the stock of public debt as a percentage of GDP in the member states. The economic crisis also exposed the weaknesses in the EU’s existing economic governance framework. Therefore debates over the Stability and Growth Pact which was adopted in 1997 have been triggered again. Europe 2020 Strategy, European Semester and Six Pack have been adopted to ensure more effective economic coordination among EU members and more fiscal discipline in national economies. European leaders also agreed to establish the European Stability Mechanism, which requires a change to the Treaty of Lisbon that came into force in December 2009. Moreover the leaders of 25 member states of the EU signed a fiscal treaty on 2 March 2012 for stricker budget discipline. These innovations mark that the EU economic governance is subject to a revision due to the economic crisis. The purpose of this article is to shed some light on the measures taken at EU level in order to coordinate national economic policies and ensure fiscal discipline since the Maastricht Treaty came into force and also to assess the European economic governance in the light of consequences of the economic crisis

Keywords

• European economic governance
• global economic crisis
• coordination of national economic policies
• fiscal discipline

KÜRESEL EKONOMİK KRİZ ÖNCESİ VE KRİZİN ETKİLERİ İLE MÜCADELE SÜRECİNDE AVRUPA BİRLİĞİ’NDE EKONOMİ YÖNETİMİ

Öz

2008 yılı Eylül ayından itibaren küresel ekonomiyi sarsan kriz, Avrupa Birliği AB ekonomisinin resesyona girmesine sebep olmuş; AB’nin tümünde ekonomik büyüme gerilerken, işsizlik oranları hızla artmıştır. Bu süreçte AB’nin genelinde kamu borcu ile bütçe açığının gayri safi yurtiçi hasılaya oranları artma eğilimine girmiştir. Ekonomik kriz ve krizin etkileri ile mücadele etmeye çalışan AB’de, parasal birliğin oluşumundan itibaren sağlanmaya çalışılan üye devletlerin ulusal ekonomi politikalarının koordinasyonu ve üye devletlerde mali disiplinin güçlendirilmesi üzerine tartışmalar AB gündeminin ön sıralarını almıştır. Krizin etkisiyle, üye devletlerin ekonomi politikaları arasında koordinasyonun ve mali disiplinin sağlanmasına yönelik olarak 1997 yılında kabul edilen İstikrar ve Büyüme Paktı tekrar gözden geçirilirken, AB’de daha etkin ekonomi yönetimi için Avrupa 2020 Stratejisi kabul edilmiş, 1 Ocak 2011 tarihinden itibaren Avrupa Dönemi uygulamasına başlanılmış ve 13 Aralık 2011 tarihinde Altılı Paket yürürlüğe sokulmuştur. Diğer taraftan, üye devletlerde mali disiplinin güçlendirilmesi amacıyla daha sıkı kurallar ve daha etkili yaptırım mekanizması öngören Mali Antlaşma, Birleşik Krallık ve Çek Cumhuriyeti hariç AB’nin 25 üyesi tarafından imzalanmıştır. Ayrıca krizin önlenemediği durumlarda Avro alanında mali istikrarın korunmasına yönelik olarak sürekli bir kriz mekanizmasının oluşturulmasına ihtiyaç olduğu gerekçesiyle, Avrupa İstikrar Mekanizması’nın oluşturulması için Lizbon Antlaşması’nda değişiklik yapılmasına karar verilmiştir. Bu makalenin amacı, AB’ye üye devletlerin ekonomi politikaları arasında koordinasyonun ve üye devletlerde mali disiplinin sağlanması amacıyla Birlik düzeyinde alınan önlemlerin özelliklerine değinmek suretiyle, söz konusu önlemler ile oluşturulan Avrupa ekonomi yönetimini, “kriz öncesi” ve “krizin etkileri ile mücadele süreci” ayrımı temelinde değerlendirmek ve ekonomik krizin Birlik ekonomi yönetimini ne şekilde revizyona tabi tuttuğunu tartışmaktır

Anahtar Kelimeler

• AB ekonomi yönetimi
• küresel ekonomik kriz
• ulusal ekonomi politikalarının koordinasyonu
• mali disiplin

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