Social rights and the disintegration of (and through) law in the Economic and Monetary Union: taking stock and looking forward

This chapter examines two processes of disintegration through the EMU prism, focusing, in particular, on the interplay between the evolution referred to above and the protection of fundamental social rights in the EU legal order. The chapter begins by offering a brief overview of the disintegrative patterns that governed law in the context of the EMU after the financial and sovereign debt crisis started in 2008 . Drawing on such analysis, it critically examines the interrelations between disintegration and the protection of fundamental rights. The chapter then scrutinizes the main actions undertaken to try to halt this evolution and addresses the ensuing distortions, namely the failed attempts to ‘repatriate’ the Fiscal Compact and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) into the EU legal order and the subsequent decision to adopt an agreement amending the ESM Treaty . Finally, the chapter takes a forward-looking approach, examining the recent response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the possible ways forward.