The wrong solution for the wrong problem: why Europe needs to shift away from fiscal policy and focus on labor markets

As the European debt crisis enters its sixth year, European elites continue to propose new policy “solutions” that previously were deemed by integration scholars as a bridge too far. From the creation of Europe’s first banking union to the establishment of common EMU fiscal resources that faltering member-states could draw upon, to even Angela Merkel’s vocal support of a disciplinary fiscal union, giving the EU unprecedented veto powers over national budgets[1], Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) has an abundance of action plans.