ABSTRACT
The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is confronted with a multi-headed set of crises an unemployment crisis, a balance of payments crisis, banking and financial crisis, a fiscal sovereign debt crisis and an existential crisis. This chapter deals with the design faults of the EMU. It discusses the economic performance of the EMU, and then looks into the neoliberalism aspects of the European social model. The chapter deals with the one size fits all problems of the euro area and provides a critique of the fiscal compact and the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (TSCG) in the Economic and Monetary Union. The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) brought in an attempt to impose a common fiscal policy on all Member States, whatever their economic position. The main point is that the policies advocated within the EMU particularly with regard to the labour market run rather counter to the notions associated with the European Social Model.
