The External Dimension of the EMU and the Role of the EU within International Economic and Monetary Institutions

The external relations in the field of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) do not attract the same attention as the relative internal framework does. The evolution of the EMU as stimulated by the financial crisis erupted in 2008 have entailed a process of expansion and consolidation of the EU competences – and such consolidation is likely to go further following the Coronavirus crisis – with particular reference to the Euro Area, which does still not completely mirror on the external plane. Reconstructing the competences of the EU as regards Economic policy is particularly problematic, both on the internal and on the external plane. Various criteria have been elaborated by the case-law of the Court of Justice of the EU for the reconstruction of external competences. On the basis of these criteria a reconstruction of the EU’s external competences will be proposed, in particular as regards Economic policy and especially in the ambit of the action to be undertaken within other International Organizations. Article 138 TFEU, the legal basis provided for the unified representation and the elaboration of common positions in the domain of EMU and in particular for the Euro Area, never used thus far, will be also analyzed.