United We Stand? – Survey of French, German and Italian Parliamentarians on EU and EMU Reforms

The "multicrisis" of European integration from the euro debt crisis through the migration dispute to Brexit has kicked-off a comprehensive reform debate. This debate covers the evolution of European Monetary Union (EMU) institutions, the division of competencies between the EU and Member States, and reforms to the decision making and financing of the EU. While there is a wealth of innovative ideas across all these dimensions, the hurdles for a far-reaching reform are high, as they require a consensus among veto players. In this policy brief, we document descriptive insights of a unique recent survey among the national parliaments of the three largest Member States of the post-Brexit EU: France, Germany and Italy. Any far-reaching EMU or EU reform will have to be approved by the national parliaments of Member States. A consensus between these three countries is definitely not a sufficient condition for the political feasibility of a reform but most likely it amounts to a necessary one.

The survey on the future of European integration was conducted in the national parliaments of France, Germany and Italy, including the French Senate and Assemblée Nationale, the German Bundestag, and the Italian Camera dei Deputati and Senato della Repubblica. The survey was sent out in September 2018 and responses arrived until January 2019. It covers the three mentioned reform dimensions, i.e. the division of competencies between the European and national level, EMU reforms and the future of EU finance and decision making.

Blesse, Sebastian, Massimo Bordignon, Pierre Boyer, Piergiorgio Carapella, Friedrich Heinemann, Eckhard Janeba and Anasuya Raj (2019), United We Stand? – Survey of French, German and Italian Parliamentarians on EU and EMU Reforms, ZEW policy brief No. 19-01, Mannheim