The nature of EMU makes macroeconomic adjustment in the euro area more complex than in a federal state. Monetary policy is a competence assigned at EU level. The European Central Bank’s price stability objective is enshrined in the Treaty.
The burden of the changes required in the transition is likely to be borne unevenly by different income and social groups, increasing the risk of a substantial decline in employment and wage growth in certain industries and regions, underpinning a revival of the concept – originally proposed by Keynes in 1930 – of “technological unemployment”.