Europe in turbulent times? An introduction to this special issue

In the past few years, the process of European integration has gone through a number of serious economic and political turbulences. A decade ago, the breakdown of financial markets has strongly affected both the stability of the common European currency and the cohesion of the European Union as a whole. The economic crisis in Europe, which had initially started with a break-down of credit markets in the U.S. American banking system, quickly jumped over to Europe and revealed numerous structural deficiencies in the design of the European Monetary Union. The so-called "Eurozone crisis" had indeed tremendous repercussions on the socio-economic development and the cohesion of the European continent. First and foremost, it reinforced economic imbalances amongst the members of the Eurozone. The Eurozone crisis hit hard especially countries with weaker economic structures and higher public debts, such as Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Ireland. For some time, the breakdown of the Euro and the Eurozone appeared to be a realistic option. Consequently, almost overnight the Eurozone countries and the European Commission implemented several emergency measures and new regulative structures in order to support the existing monetary system. The political costs of these rescue measures and the heated political quarrels accompanying their implementation, however, are still hard to estimate. The Eurozone crisis has certainly reinforced socio-economic disparities within the European Union, it has strengthened mistrust amongst EU member states (especially between northern and southern EU member states), and it has paved the way for the upswing of anti-EU sentiments, new populist movements, and a stronger polarisation of the political landscape

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• Europeanness in Aarhus 2017’s programme of events

  Open Access•Antoinette Fage-Butler, Katja Gorbahn•Culture Practice & Europeanization•2020

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• Dilemmas of European Integration

  Giandomenico Majone•Dilemmas of European integration•2005

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