Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2012 in the subject Politics – Topic: European Union, grade: Merit, London School of Economics (European Institute), course: Politics and Government in the EU, language: English, abstract: The non-compliance to the Stability and Growth Pact in the early 2000’s was a direct challenge to the co-operative virtue of EU fiscal governance, and the fact that its occurrence played little role in affecting the stability for Europe’s most significant achievement yet – the Single Currency – was in itself a truly peculiar incident. Betrayed by the deeds of the two locomotives of the European Project, Germany and France, only four years after the adoption of the Euro – yet the currency strides on and none of the adverse effect that Economists feared had happened. But was that it?
The fact that both of these nations could escape sanction by coercing other nations in debt to vote against a punishment for their excessive fiscal deficit announced a deep functional fault in the enforcement of agreed EU treaties on the Commission’s part; and knowing that the stability of the Euro hinged upon an incomplete fiscal federation where fiscal responsibility laid heavily on the shoulders of the member states, there was indeed a commitment crisis exhibiting itself in 2003.
This paper aimed to answer two questions: first, what have caused the member states, such as France and most curiously, Germany, the one who had stressed the need for fiscal discipline every step of the way during the negotiation stage to safeguard the Euro, to renegade on a pact that was supposed to guarantee just that? Second, in light of the silence of the international capital market towards the incident, what, if any, had the demise of EDP contributed to the study of fiscal governance and political integration in the EU?
About the author
As the Research Director in European Politics at the Global Studies Institute in Hong Kong, an institution set up by renowned international relations scholar Simon Shen, I am one of the youngest and most avid multi-platform commentator in European affairs in Hong Kong. With a degree in history, and a master’s of science degree in EU politics specialized in the governance of the European Union from the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science, I have written dozens of commentaries on several publications in the Greater China region, as well as guest to numerous TV and radio broadcastings in Hong Kong. A majority of my articles can be seen in the Hong Kong Economic Journal, while I've also written articles for UDN Global (聯合報), the Taipei-based newspaper, and the Guangzhou-based Nanfeng Chuang Journal (南風窗).
In light of the recent Brexit incident, I've been quoted in the Hong Kong Economic Journal, published extensively on online platforms such as the Initium and Insight Post, while making several broadcastings produced by the RTHK and TVB, including a lengthy interview featured in ‘On the Record’ (http://mytv.tvb.com/tc/cat_news/ontherecord/257528) as well as Pentaprism II （http://programme.rthk.hk/rthk/tv/programme.php?name=tv/pentaprism II&d=2016-06-24&p=4101&e=362234&m=episode). My stance on the referendum has been a simple one; there’s simply no factual ground to support that in even the most optimist scenario that Great Britain can gain advantage over its former self. I predicted that not only the referendum would have alienate further of Britain’s allies on the continent, it would also further the conflict between the devolved entities (for example Scotland and Northern Ireland) with Westminster and the majority of England. Tragically, almost all of my prediction held true as Nicola Sturgeon seemed poised to host another referendum and that the confidence in the UK economy has already felt the shock of Brexit, seen in the Gilt yields’ wild rise after the referendum. For the British people it is a time to rebuild and rethink what needs to be done to reach an amicable break from the European Union, and for us as oversea observers we should aim to seize upon this historic moment to enhance our knowledge of the working of the EU and create opportunities out of it.
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