An Introduction: “Macroeconomic Policy Coordination and Domestic Politics: Policy Coordination in the EU from the European Semester to the Covid-19 Crisis”*

Abstract

The Next Generation EU (NGEU) and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) encompassed the European Semester. To understand how and why this happened we apply different theoretical approaches so as to emphasize different aspects of this process. The contributions in this collection discuss three main questions: (1) Is the Semester successfully implemented in the domestic arena? (2) Do domestic institutions and stakeholders play a crucial role in the success (or lack thereof) of the Semester? (3) What lessons can we learn from past economic policy coordination for the challenges ahead? In answering these questions, one's lens needs to be focused at both the EU and the domestic levels. Various factors play a role: solidarity, mutual understanding, relations between the ‘South’ and the ‘North’, questions about democracy, the rule of law, the interaction between economic and social issues, and even the need to address the climate crisis (the Green Deal).