Joseph Stiglitz seems to join those siren voices who argue for scrapping the pre-pandemic fiscal rules / FT, 23 September 2021/.
In my view, however, all of them are missing the point. The real culprit for the global failure of the EU are not the fiscal rules, but the Maastricht Treaty. The euro proved to be really bad for the majority of the Eurozone economies while only a couple of countries benefited from it /Germany and the Netherlands/.
Italy and Greece lost 25% of their wealth during the last two decades, it is hardly “slowly contraction” as Stiglitz put it for Italy.
The EU and especially the Southern belt of the Eurozone badly need a complete reform of the Maastricht Treaty in order to find a way to regain their independent monetary policies. It would mean two or more euros within a loose currency zone. This reform would let the EU to make a complete U-turn on the European project, scrapping the harmful dream of a United States of Europe.
Governor Matolcsy, MNB, the Central Bank of Hungary