A rules-based economic policy and intensive intergovernmentalism have been the constitutive building blocks of European integration in the past 25 years. It is not surprising, therefore, that the method of crisis management was defined mostly by the presidents and prime ministers of member states and focused almost exclusively on the further limitation of national fiscal spaces. The article aims to demonstrate that the fiscal compact that was adopted in 2012 due to German pressure as an intergovernmental treaty intends to remedy the failures of the existing governance structure by imposing even stricter conditions. Political solidarity, in a general sense, was replaced by a sort of means- and effectiveness-centred view, which seems to place the whole burden of adjustment onto the member states without leaving much room for manoeuvring.*
Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: E02, E62, H60
