Mes, vices and virtues of the State-saving Fund. This is what Italy risks, the only EU country that has not approved its reform

The authors of the note are Massimo Bordignon, Francesco Scinetti and Nicoletta Scutifero

The limits of Maastricht

It is useful to address the problem of the ESM reform starting from the economic reasons that led to its introduction, which in turn refer to the limits of the EU Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) as conceived in the original Maastricht Treaty. This first version of the Union was based on the assumption that in order to maintain the stability of the euro area, a common monetary policy and certain constraints on the public finances of the member countries (fiscal rules and the no bail-out clause for debts previous national systems) were sufficient instruments.