During this event, Professor Wozniakowski will delve into the nuances of his research, shedding light on the comparative analysis between European and American fiscal integration. In addition, he will present the article ‘No Borrowing Without Taxing? Fiscal Solidarity of NextGenerationEU in Light of the American Experience'.
Central to Wozniakowski's discourse is his exploration of the European Union's response to the pandemic through the lens of the Next Generation EU (NGEU) initiative, which some referred to as a "Hamiltonian moment" for Europe. The key aspect of the original Hamiltonian moment was the assumption of states’ debts after the Union was given tax power. However, none of this happened with the NGEU: the EU was not given any significant new sources of revenue, apart from some environmental levies, and was only allowed to borrow more on the financial markets to finance new fiscal solidarity mechanisms.
In this book presentation, Wozniakowski juxtaposes the American experience, where such borrowing power precipitated monetary financing of debt and rampant inflation, with the European experience: creating a hybrid system of limited fiscalization in the form of the NGEU. Rather than a "Hamiltonian moment," the NGEU resembles a "Morrisian moment" for Europe. Robert Morris, the superintendent of finance of the US (1781–1784), was the very first finance minister of a similar kind of a union, with the power to borrow but no power to tax, governed by the unanimity rule in fiscal matters, which led to the failure of his proposals for national revenue.
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The Economic and Monetary Union Laboratory (EMU Lab) is a collaborative initiative driven by the Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa Chair and the Pierre Werner Chair, aiming to reassess the Economic and Monetary Union's structure in light of current European and global economic conditions.
The monograph was published by the OUP and more details can be found the below links:
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/fiscal-unions-9780192858436?lang=en&cc=at
https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v11i4.7233