ABSTRACT
As the first wave of eurozone member states complete the EMU process, many academics and policymakers are now asking what will come after EMU in Europe. In economic terms, the template most social scientists think of when referring to economic integration is in fact a template usually referred to as the Balassa stages of integration, after Balassa (1961). The problem with this template is that it is outdated and also focuses on the earlier stages of integration rather than the later stages of the process. One of the aims of this chapter is to try and shed some light on the later stages of the integration process, and in particular to look forward to the options for further integration, post-EMU, in the EU. Effectively then, the question that this paper asks is ‘What next?’ The assertion made here is that to effectively answer this question, we need to take a look at the whole integration template and the possible dynamics that can arise from the template.
