The Eurozone: Groupthink and Denial on a Grand Scale

The Werner Report (1970) and the MacDougall Report (1977) both outlined a design for a full economic and monetary European Union based on centralised monetary and fiscal policy with full democratic oversight through the European Parliament. However, the historical and cultural divide between the European nations provided for no agreement.

In the late 1980s, the Delors Report and subsequent Maastricht process abandoned what Werner had considered to be essential requirements for successful union, replacing them with a neo-liberal dystopia that was doomed to fail. In tonight’s lecture, Bill Mitchell will show that there are superior options to the current status quo, even within the common currency arrangement.