Half a century of European Financial Integration

With the creation of a common market in the 1960s, the first tentative steps were taken towards financial unification. The turmoil in the exchange markets in the 1970s prompted European authorities to exercise greater control over capital flows. The EEC acquired a fully-fledged financial pillar from 1985, when a programme for the complete liberalisation of goods, services, persons, and capital was established. With the Maastricht Treaty, the European Monetary Union and the creation of a European Central Bank became concrete objectives. The introduction of the euro in 1999 was the provisional culmination of a long and fascinating process. The single currency was the engine for the integration of other areas of the financial market, such as bonds and equity, but many legal and technical barriers remain to be overcome. In Half a Century of Financial Integration, Ivo Maes examines why it was so difficult to achieve a unified European financial market, how unification has progressed, and which political decisions contributed to its foundation. The author also examines the future of the single financial and monetary area and where the greatest challenges lie.

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