Economic integration, monetary union and structural imbalances between the countries of the European Community.

Summary The thesis proposes to examine the compatibility between the European economic and monetary union and the presence of countries with different levels of development. First, we recall the content of the EMU and the main benefits to be expected from it as described by the European Commission's analyses. These effects are then examined from the point of view of the sensitive points that condition their virtuous chain. In this perspective, the thesis proposes to show that the analyses leading to the Delors report underestimate the role of national adjustments in the success of monetary integration. In particular, there is a strong risk that EMU will penalize the catching-up process of southern European countries and lead them into optically divergent dynamics. It is therefore prudent and necessary to examine the processes by which balancing mechanisms could be defined. The literature on fiscal federalism, analyzed from the perspective of the specificities uncovered for the United States, reveals mechanisms that are, at present, particularly lacking in the European project. A historical perspective of the convergence process in the United States then provides some stylized facts on the dynamics of rebalancing among the American states and allows us to draw lessons that may shed light on the European debate. Beyond the analogies and differences, this foray into history teaches that the structural accounting of a currency union with a process of.