Die (unvollendete) Reform des Europäischen Stabili- tätsmechanismus (ESM)

Right at the beginning of the economic crisis in Europe, there were calls for a mechanism that would contribute to monetary stability and thus represent an effective instrument to address the sovereign debt crisis. For this purpose, the euro countries agreed to establish a permanent rescue mechanism, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The main objective of the “rescue umbrella” was to prevent the collapse of the European Economic and Monetary Union and to preserve the euro as the common currency of the EU “by all means”. A decade after its inception, the ESM stands at a critical juncture, with a long-prepared reform – introducing significant advancements – awaiting ratification. This article seeks to analyse the future scope of this (still incomplete) ESM reform. To this end, it first provides an overview of the current status quo of the ESM before delving into the key aspects of the proposed reform.