ISSUES AROUND THE PRESERVATION OF MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY BY THE EUROPEAN UNION MEMBER STATES IN THE CONTEXT OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

The given article highlights the problem of the preservation of monetary sovereignty by the EU Member States in the course of European integration. The goal of the article is to find an answer to the question, whether EU Member States preserve, partly lose or lose their monetary sovereignty completely in the process of EU integration. To achieve the given goal the author anlyses monetary sovereignty as a legal category and as part of the financial sovereignty, and characterizes monetary sovereignty in the narrow and broader sense of the word. The author claims that it would be more correct to understand monetary sovereignty in its broader sense, when it implies the authority to control the financial system of one's territory on the whole, not just the currency unit. In this article there is an analysis of the modern concept of monetary sovereignty formed under the influence of the processes of European integration. According to the author, in terms of the modern concept of monetary sovereignty, it should be considered a divisible value, which can be divided among several subjects and as result there appear several levels of monetary sovereignty. It is suggested that monetary sovereignity should not be considered as a static construction of rigidly fixed authorities, but as a dynamic system where sovereign powers can be temporarily delegated to the supranational organization. The author points out that to estimate to what extent the state has preserved (or lost) its monetary sovereignty the "status" of delegated authorities matters (i.e. the amount of delegated authorities; whether they are delegated temporatily or for good; whether the state has lost or preserved the right to make an impact on these authorities). Besides, the author determines the "boundaries of loss" of monetary sovereignty. A conclusion is made that in case of membership in an economic or monetary union as part of the European Union, one cannot speak of a complete loss of monetary sovereignty by the Member States, but only of a temporary restriction of exercising their sovereign authorities, caused by the delegation of most of the competences to the transnational level. The author used inductive cognitive methods and made an analysis based on the comparison of particular European countries.