Economic Constitution and the State

in Biebricher, Thomas; Nedergaard, Peter; Bonefeld, Werner (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Ordoliberalism (2022)

The role of the state in the Ordoliberal economic constitution lies at the heart of Ordoliberalism and constitutes a key difference between the theory of Ordoliberalism and other forms of liberalism. The ... [more ▼]

The role of the state in the Ordoliberal economic constitution lies at the heart of Ordoliberalism and constitutes a key difference between the theory of Ordoliberalism and other forms of liberalism. The state imposes the constitutional framework on the economy; it does not arise as natural law, but through conscious and scientific planning. The state and the economic constitution have a more multifaceted and complex relationship than first meets the eye. This is revealed through the various definitions of state, its functions, the role of independent agencies, the relationship between the economic constitution and (mass) democracy and the discussion on authoritarian liberalism. The definition of the state within the Ordoliberal economic constitution uses the concept of a strong state, which refers to a limited state that is able resist interest groups and maintain the liberal society. A further aspect is what kind of a state is demanded or even created by the economic constitution; the economic constitution can be created by the state but arguably also that the state can be defined and even created by the economic constitution. From this perspective, economic liberties and the functioning of competition could be presented as a key legitimation for the state. [less ▲]

Integrating Macroeconomics into the EU Single Legal Order: The Role of Financial Stability in Post-Crisis Europe

in European Papers (2022), Vol. 6(3 /2021), 1367-1396

This article follows the trajectory of the EU legal order, from its inception to its current stage, by focusing on the transformations it has experienced resulting from its increasing interaction with ... [more ▼]

This article follows the trajectory of the EU legal order, from its inception to its current stage, by focusing on the transformations it has experienced resulting from its increasing interaction with macroeconomics. When the Court of Justice declared that a new legal order resulted from the provisions of the Treaty of Rome, its interpretation stemmed from a coherent understanding of the institutional form (indirect administration) and substantive content (microeconomic integra-tion) of European integration. The addition of the macroeconomic layer of integration, with its own institutional form (integrated administration and open method of coordination) but still broadly subject to the same legal order, resulted into a less consistent whole. The crises the Union faced during the last decade tested the resistance of these structures and, although the Court has been consistently interpreting EU law according to the same procedures and tech-niques without radical deviations, the irruption of financial stability as macroeconomic impera-tive has rearranged the equilibrium in integration. Now we can argue that institutional form, substantive content and legal order of European integration are again realigned, but instead of resulting from the provisions of the Treaties and from placing the legal rationality of law at the core of the system, financial stability is the rationale coherently arranging them together. The consequences of this rearrangement for the EU legal order are the object of study of this spe-cial issue. [less ▲]

Monetary Policy (objectives and instruments)

in Repasi, René; Amtenbrink, Fabian; Herrmann, Christoph (Eds.) The EU Law of Economic and Monetary Union (2020)

Monetary policy became the exclusive competence of the Community in the Maastricht Treaty, but the Treaty was not very explicit on what this exclusive monetary policy competence included. The Treaty ... [more ▼]

Monetary policy became the exclusive competence of the Community in the Maastricht Treaty, but the Treaty was not very explicit on what this exclusive monetary policy competence included. The Treaty provisions on monetary policy did rely on some general idea of what monetary policy consisted of and what it did not. However, instead of trying to assess what this ‘consensus’ view on monetary policy was in the early 1990s, it is more convenient to look directly at the key concepts related to monetary policy and how they were manifested in the setting-up and actual conduct of monetary policy by the Eurosystem. In this regard, three different but interlinked concepts need to be clarified: the monetary policy strategy, the monetary policy transmission mechanism, and the operational framework. Monetary policy strategy describes the way the Eurosystem sees its role in the economy and how it achieves the objectives it has been assigned. The monetary policy transmission mechanism is embedded in the monetary policy strategy. It seeks to explain how the central bank policy decision are transmitted to the economy and how they help to fulfil central bank’s objectives, particularly price stability. The operational framework facilitates this transmission by setting up the framework through which the Eurosystem interacts with financial markets and ultimately the economy at large. [less ▲]