United Kingdom and the Euro: better together or apart?

• Grant number: 09/14473-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2010
• End date: November 30, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - International Politics
• Principal Investigator: Maria Antonieta Del Tedesco Lins
• Grantee: Leandro Pignatari Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Relações Internacionais (IRI). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This work intends to discuss some aspects related to the validity of the British choice of non-adhering to the European single currency. The financial and economic crisis intensified in 2008-09 brought once more the debate about the grounds of the United Kingdom non-adhesion to the Euro. Turning ten, the Euro lives moments of profound impasse, as much for the difficulties in sustaining the conditions of macroeconomic convergence established since the beginning of the monetary union, as for the effects of the fiscal stimulus policies, having the Stability and Growth Pact been unfulfilled in several times by many countries. The United Kingdom, as well, suffered strong impacts from the crisis. In order to evaluate the British position opposed to its pairs in the Eurozone, the present work proposes an analysis of the European integration process and of the monetary policy conducted by the Bank of England and by the European Central Bank in the contemporary financial crisis. The comparison of the economic situation in the United Kingdom with other cases in the continent is made as a way to propose a reading of the British policies toward the Euro under the light of the recent events.