ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses and explains the emergence, forms and extent of the EU's external engagement in economic and monetary policies from the launch of the economic and monetary union (EMU) to the (ongoing) response to the European financial and sovereign debt crisis of 2008. It employs the concept of actorness as defined by Bretherton and Vogler (2006) by assessing the EU's opportunity, presence and capability in economic and monetary policies. The chapter suggests that the Union and the euro area are currently characterized by a medium degree of actorness. It shows that in the field of economic and monetary policies the EU's external engagement concentrates on the external dimension of internal policies, although there seems to be an indication of a 'nascent' monetary diplomacy since the European sovereign debt crisis.
