What Went Wrong. The Failure of the 1993 Delors' White Paper

Abstract

In the late 1980s and early 1990s a process was started that would lead to the single currency in Europe. The choice made for its governance relied on an intergovernmental monitoring over convergence, based on the strict compliance to the Maastricht criteria. The White Paper of the Delors’s Commission on Growth, Competitiveness, Employment was issued in September 1993 to face the new internal and external threats to the European economies. It provided a framework for policy-action that should accompany the building of the euro and help the European economy survive the challenges of globalization, sustainability and new ICTs. The paper aims to examine the White Paper of 1993, and to analyse the reasons why it was neglected and eventually set aside by the member States, thus weakening the long-term prospects of the European economy and the sustainability of the forthcoming European single currency.