The banking union in the Eurozone

Abstract

The recent global financial crisis that triggered the European debt crisis in 2010-11 found the Eurozone unprepared and showed that bank failures can cause major negative implications. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the newly emerged concept of a European Banking Union from different perspectives using the relevant literature.The interconnection between the government’s economics and the banks proved to be way more problematic and hazardous than it was considered by the Eurozone officials for many years now. Furthermore, the interdependence of the Euro area economies turned out to be problematic as well and many national policies were no longer effective. The division between the states creditors, mainly in the north, and the states debtors, mainly in the European periphery of the south, is more evident that ever and large amounts of financial assistance are flowing towards the financial distressed countries. Under these circumstances, the flaws and failures in the design of the European Monetary Union (EMU) became apparent. The concept of the “banking union” first appeared in the European public debate at the end of 2011 and became widely discussed among European officials in 2012 when Euro area countries pledged to consider concrete steps for a more integrated financial architecture. In an effort to not only salvage the European banking system but also to secure the EMU against future threats the European Council proposed on June 2012 a stage-process of the actions needed to be implemented in order to ensure the effectiveness of the European and the national policies.