In the first half of 2006 the Federal Trust convened a broadly-based Working Group to examine possible future models for the governance of the European single currency. The Group’s deliberations resulted in a report:

Working Group Report:
The Governance of the Eurozone
October 2006

The Governance of the Eurozone by Sir Stephen Wall and Brendan Donnelly

In his introduction to this report, the Group’s Chairman, Sir Stephen Wall, writes: “The European Union as a whole has, like the Eurozone, been a success story. But both could do better. This is not a timid report. But nor is it an intemperate one. It makes recommendations that are not just within the power, but the capacity, of governments to carry into action. If these recommendations were implemented, they might give fresh impetus to political union, not for its own sake, but to help deliver the coherent governance Europe needs.”

The report’s recommendations are

  1. A permanent secretariat for the Eurogroup, in which the Finance Ministers of the Eurozone currently meet informally;
  2. Eurozone summits in parallel to meetings of the European Council;
  3. Meetings of Eurozone ministers from other Councils than the Council of Finance Ministers;
  4. Regular and structured meetings between representatives of the Eurogroup and the ECB; and
  5. A symmetrical inflation target for the ECB.

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