An investigation of the maastricht fiscal criteria and the european union’s harmonization

Abstract

The Maastricht Treaty brought many innovations in the process of harmonization of the EU. This treaty, which was realized in 1993, aims to harmonize the economic, financial, legal, and political aspects of the EU members. Two basic financial criteria were identified in the financial stability and harmonization process. The first is the ratio of member countries’ budget deficits to GDP. The second is the ratio of the member country’s public debt to the GDP. In this chapter, it will be revealed how EU member countries are adapting to financial criteria. For this purpose, reports and statistics published by international organizations such as OECD and EU will be examined. It will be seen in many of the EU member countries can not adapt to these criteria. Especially after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, there were difficulties in adapting to these criteria. The EU Council put into effect several legal regulations in the harmonization process. Although many legal sanctions were put into effect for this purpose, success in complying with the financial criteria were not achieved.