ABSTRACT
The financial downturn that hit the European monetary union in 2008 has shaken not only its socio-economic foundations, but also its political stability. The Eurozone crisis has had an impact both on member-states’ domestic politics, and on the decision-making structures of the EU, which have not been fully appreciated so far. In addition, it has brought to the fore the unclear links between the Eurozone and the EU and the asymmetry of political and economic integration within them. Because of this asymmetry, the need for a coordinated response to the financial crisis has led to extraordinary political developments, such as emergency laws, early elections, the appointment of technocratic governments and the urgent design of new EU pacts and mechanisms. Some of them, especially the circumvention of existing institutional procedures, were dramatic enough to question the foundations and future prospects of democracy in the EU.
