ABSTRACT

From the point of view of comparative federalism, monetary union without fiscal union constitutes a genuine puzzle. As far as federal experience goes, the suprastate is either limited to foreign and trade policy or fully-fledged in the sense that it includes a common currency and - as a consequence - a strong element of revenue sharing. One option is to have no monetary union at all. Another option is to have monetary union with a parallel fiscal union. In theory, there is no third alternative.