This paper gives an overview of the causes of the European debt crisis and the consequences for the external relations. It finds that political mishandling has increased uncertainty, which has contributed to a tendency for the euro to become weaker.

The coherence of ideological narratives in the Euro Area is a necessary condition for the sustainability of the monetary union. Narratives shape political preferences and if they diverge persistently, cooperation between member states becomes impossible. We measure the evolution of ideological...

On 6 September 2012 the Governing Council of the ECB decided on the technical details of new sovereign bond purchasing operations, called the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMTs). The notes in this compilation evaluate the framework of the OMTs and discuss various aspects of the interventions...