The Politics of Austerity and Public Policy Reform in the EU - A symposium edited by Dr Stella Ladi (Queen Mary University of London) and Dr Dimitris Tsarouhas (Bilkent University) in Political Studies Review

In the introductory article it is argued that the EU is at a critical juncture that will either trigger further political and economic unity or reinforce the voices that instead call for intergovernmental co-operation in place of formal union.  The spread of market pressure from Ireland, Greece and Portugal to Spain, Italy and Cyprus and also beyond has demonstrated that the sovereign debt crisis needs to be dealt with at the European and not just the national level.  Up to now the “politics of extreme austerity” has been the mainstream recipe promoted to and adopted by member states.  The measures are tougher in those countries where there has been external financial assistance from the EU and the IMF (i.e. Greece, Portugal and Ireland) but the rest of Europe is following suit (e.g. Italy and the UK).