The leading role of national governments : determining the government positions of the new Eurozone Member States on the national and European level

This paper is dealing with the question of what the positions of the new Eurozone Member States determines for the decision-making under the Stability and Growth Pact between 2002 to present. The focus is placed on the economic interests of the national governments from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. When focussing on the national level decisions there are interest groups, like trade unions, that try to influence the national government decisions. Dealing with the European level the national governments were sometimes very criticized by the opposition. However, the paper argues that the national governments of the Baltic States are hardly influenced by these trade unions or government opposition.