Commission participation in the Troika mission

Abstract

The Euro crisis has been at the center of European Union politics during the last years. This paper is intended to debate two questions regarding the involvement of the Commission in the so-called Troika: firstly, considering the nature of financial assistance programs to Eurozone countries, it aims to discuss the effect of the Commission’s participation in Troika negotiations on the balance of power of the EU institutions; and secondly, it raises the issue of the Commission’s burden for the results achieved by the financial assistance programs. The paper starts by contextualizing the composition of the Troika in the aftermath of the sovereign debt crisis and then proceeds with an analysis of the impact of the Commission’s participation on the balance of power within the EU’s institutions. The second part is devoted to the situation of those countries that were assisted by the Troika, to discuss whether the Commission should have any responsibility for the outcomes of the financial adjustments.