ABSTRACT
Social policies could provide an appropriate mechanism for the transnational transfers needed to underpin an effective monetary union. The promotion of social objectives would work to narrow the gap between the goals pursued by European Union (EU) leaders and the actual concerns and values of European citizens. Among citizens of the European Union (EU), identification with the EU and support for its institutions have been reduced to low levels by the EU's dysfunctional response to the global financial crisis. The most alarming aspect of the EU's current economic strategy is not the dysfunctional austerity drive, nor the lack of democratic control over the European Central Bank (ECB), nor the attempt to resolve imbalances almost entirely at the expense of the weakest member states. The majority of member states which entered the monetary union also lost macroeconomic instruments, not only monetary policy but increasingly budgetary policy as it was constrained by the rules of the Stability Pact.
