Globalizzazione, costruzione europea e moneta unica

La sinistra italiana nello scenario dell’Atto Unico Europeo (1984-87)

Abstract

signing of the European Single Act, caught the Italian left in the midst of a political
and cultural transformation that was as ambitious as it was full of unknowns.
Communists and Socialists became aware, around the mid-1980s, of the importance
of Europe as an external constraint of national government and, at the same
time, as a tool for moderating the impact of globalization on nation-states. The
antagonism between the PCI and the PSI on the national level did not prevent
the ripening of a long-distance discussion on some of the main issues concerning
the reform of the European community. In these years, monetary policy, in particular,
was the catalyst for the reflections of economists, technicians and party
intellectuals from these two political areas, who debated about the prospect of
a “phase two” of the European Monetary System as a premise for bolder developments
toward the political and economic unity of the Europeans. The article
reconstructs this debate, highlighting both its potential and limits, against the
backdrop of the closing phase of the Cold War and the transformations taking
place in the international economy.