The Stability, Coordination and Governance Treaty: Principle, Politics and Pragmatism

The Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (TSCG) was one of many responses by the European Union to the financial crisis and consequential crisis with the euro. It was designed to show that the European Union had the problem under control, even if the TSCG had to be made outside the confines of the Lisbon Treaty. This article examines the political background to the TSCG, and its legal provisions. It also considers the broader issues of principle raised by the TSCG, and the extent to which Member States together with EU institutions can proceed outside the confines of the Lisbon Treaty to attain goals that cannot be achieved therein.