IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ecb/ecblwp/200910.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Withdrawal and expulsion from the EU and EMU: some reflections

Author

Listed:
  • Athanassiou, Phoebus

Abstract

This paper examines the issues of secession and expulsion from the European Union (EU) and Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). It concludes that negotiated withdrawal from the EU would not be legally impossible even prior to the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, and that unilateral withdrawal would undoubtedly be legally controversial; that, while permissible, a recently enacted exit clause is, prima facie, not in harmony with the rationale of the European unification project and is otherwise problematic, mainly from a legal perspective; that a Member State's exit from EMU, without a parallel withdrawal from the EU, would be legally inconceivable; and that, while perhaps feasible through indirect means, a Member State's expulsion from the EU or EMU, would be legally next to impossible. This paper concludes with a reminder that while, institutionally, a Member State's membership of the euro area would not survive the discontinuation of its membership of the EU the same need not be true of the former Member State's use of the euro. JEL Classification: K

Suggested Citation

  • Athanassiou, Phoebus, 2009. "Withdrawal and expulsion from the EU and EMU: some reflections," Legal Working Paper Series 10, European Central Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecblwp:200910
    Note: 537823
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ecb.europa.eu//pub/pdf/scplps/ecblwp10.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:etrans:v:10:y:2002-07:i:2:p:419-444 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. D. Mario Nuti, 2002. "Costs and benefits of unilateral euroization in central eastern Europe," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 10(2), pages 419-444, July.
    3. Kerjean, Stéphane, 2008. "The legal implications of the prudential supervisory assessment of bank mergers and acquisitions under EU law," Legal Working Paper Series 6, European Central Bank.
    4. Athanassiou, Phoebus & Mas-Guix, Natalia, 2008. "Electronic money institutions - current trends, regulatory issues and future prospects," Legal Working Paper Series 7, European Central Bank.
    5. Lambrinoc, Simona Elena, 2009. "The legal duty to consult the European Central Bank - National and EU consultations," Legal Working Paper Series 9, European Central Bank.
    6. Eerola Essi & Määttänen Niku & Poutvaara Panu, 2004. "Citizens Should Vote on Secession," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 1-22, October.
    7. Athanassiou, Phoebus & García-Andrade, Jorge, 2006. "National central banks and community public sector procurement legislation: a critical overview," Legal Working Paper Series 3, European Central Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lambrinoc, Simona Elena, 2009. "The legal duty to consult the European Central Bank - National and EU consultations," Legal Working Paper Series 9, European Central Bank.
    2. Jerome Creel & Jacques Le Cacheux, 2003. "Inflation divergence and public deficits in a monetary union," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2003-05, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    3. Mathilde Maurel, 2004. "Financial Integration, Exchange Rate Regimes in CEECs, and joining the EMU : Just Do It," Working Papers hal-01065481, HAL.
    4. Ansgar Belke & Ralph Setzer, 2004. "Contagion, herding and exchange-rate instability — A survey," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 39(4), pages 222-228, July.
    5. Neven T Valev, 2006. "From a Currency Board to the Euro: Public Attitudes Toward Unilateral Euroisation in Bulgaria1," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 48(3), pages 480-496, September.
    6. Lucjan T. Orlowski, 2005. "Monetary Policy Adjustments on the Final Passage towards the Euro," CASE Network Studies and Analyses 0294, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
    7. Ansgar Belke & Ralph Setzer, 2003. "Exchange Rate Volatility and Employment Growth: Empirical Evidence from the CEE Economies," CESifo Working Paper Series 1056, CESifo.
    8. Desecures, M. & Pouvelle, C., 2007. "Issues regarding euroisation in regions neighbouring the euro area," Quarterly selection of articles - Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 10, pages 5-23, Winter.
    9. Martina Horníková & Jaromír Hurník & Viktor Kotlán, 2005. "Spontaneous Euroization in the Czech Republic (is it a problem and why not?)," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2005(2), pages 99-108.
    10. Fidrmuc, Jarko & Korhonen, Iikka, 2003. "Similarity of supply and demand shocks between the euro area and the CEECs," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 313-334, September.
    11. Gianmarco Daniele & Amedeo Piolatto & Willem Sas, 2018. "Who Sent You? Strategic Voting, Transfers and Bailouts in a Federation," Working Papers. Serie AD 2018-05, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    12. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/2302 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/722 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Gern, Klaus-Jürgen & Hammermann, Felix & Schweickert, Rainer & Vinhas de Souza, Lúcio, 2004. "European monetary integration after EU enlargement," Kiel Discussion Papers 413, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    15. Ansgar Belke & Leo Kaas, 2004. "Exchange Rate Movements and Employment Growth: An OCA Assessment of the CEE Economies," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 247-280, June.
    16. Sandrine Levasseur, 2004. "Why not euroisation?," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 91(5), pages 121-156.
    17. Ivanka Petkova, 2011. "Effects of Different Currencies and Exchange Rate Regimes in Post-Yugoslav Countries during the Global Financial and Economic Crisis," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 2, pages 148-160.
    18. Park, Jaevin & Kwon, Ohik, 2023. "Stablecoins: Legal restrictions theory and monetary policy," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    19. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/3361 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Susanne Lechner & Renate Ohr, 2011. "The right of withdrawal in the treaty of Lisbon: a game theoretic reflection on different decision processes in the EU," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 357-375, December.
    21. Paul de Grauwe & Gunther Schnabl, 2004. "Nominal versus Real Convergence with Respect to EMU Accession.How to Cope with the Balassa-Samuelson Dilemma," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers 20, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    22. Lara-Greta Merling & Kevin M. Cashman, 2023. "Credibility and Convergence: Did Euroization Deliver for Montenegro?," Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, Ovidius University of Constantza, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 0(1), pages 132-136, August.
    23. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/722 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. José Tavares, 2012. "Fiscal Union Consensus Design Under The Threat Of Autarky," 2012 Meeting Papers 202, Society for Economic Dynamics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ecb:ecblwp:200910. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Official Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/emieude.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.