EMU and political union: what, if anything, have we learned from the euro's first decade?

Abstract

The road to Maastricht and the eventual launch of economic and monetary union (EMU) fuelled debate among scholars and policy-makers about the relationship between monetary and political integration in Europe. This article revisits a selection of these arguments ten years after the launch of the euro. It finds little evidence to corroborate claims that EMU will spur political union either out of functional necessity or the intentional choice of euro area members. If anything, the projects of monetary and political integration in Europe show tentative signs of decoupling.