Time to Reconsider Status : The IMF, the EU, the Euro Area and Its Sovereign Debt Crisis

This paper examines the contemporary and possible future role of the IMF in European economic governance in light of the cooperation developed between the EU and the Fund in order to tackle financial problems both in non-euro area and euro area Member States. Attention is paid to the influence of the IMF on the revamping of European economic governance through, among others, the establishment of robust crisis management mechanisms. On the basis of this analysis, it is suggested that the Fund will continue to have some role in European economic governance, at least in the mid-term. For this reason the EU, or at least the euro area, has an interest in becoming more influential in the work and decision-making of the IMF through the strengthening of its representation. As discussed in the paper, the Lisbon Treaty has indeed created the potential for a strengthened presence of the euro area (not necessarily the EU) in the IMF (see Article 138 TFEU)