Fiscal Policy under EMU

My first reaction to writing this chapter was to add a short sub-title ‘In search of principles’. But I decided against the idea because the search for basic principles has been going on for some time. It has been going on both within the EC in the form of numerous memoranda and notes sent by the Commission to the Council; in the form of various studies commissioned by the Commission, among which the MacDougall Report (1977) was an outstanding piece of work likely to be referred to for many years to come; and, finally, in the now growing number of papers dealing with this topic as well as articles in serious journals throughout the world.