The EMU and the banking union: an evaluation of the impacts on the Euroepan monetary integration process

This research provides an analysis of the causes that have led the European authorities to the establishment of the banking union within the borders of the European monetary framework. The banking union was conceived to cope with the 2007-­financial crisis due to the fact that the EMU was lacking of powerful supranational institutions, whose aim would have been to resolve the crisis in an organized and efficient manner. It will be made an assessment of the banking union’s effects on the European monetary integration process and on the economies of EMU member States, focusing on the willingness of the European leaders to strengthen the European monetary union in order to make the participating countries converge and to prevent them fromfuture negative shocks. The purpose of the essay is indeed to investigate the mechanisms that constitute the banking union and mostly how they would be relevant in stabilizing the EMU environment damaged by the crisis, as well as their impacts on the welfare of the European countries. The banking union is the first real achievement in the process of European monetary integration since the creation of the euro and its three pillars will be substantial and significant in addressing the challenges of the crisis. Through its creation the European authorities have set the basis for a stronger and genuine economic monetary union, capable to become more coordinated and competitive than in the past.