Deepening EMU: Ambition and Realism. Bruges Political Research Papers 63 / 2017

Regling, Klaus (2017) Deepening EMU: Ambition and Realism. Bruges Political Research Papers 63 / 2017. [Policy Paper]

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Abstract

The construction of the European Union has now been going on for seven decades. During this period, there were moments of soaring ambition. And there were moments of sober realism. The College of Europe stems from a period of hope. It is itself an institution of hope, established just after Europe took a historic first step towards unification at the Congress of Europe in 1948. My institution – the European Stability Mechanism – was born at a time that Europe needed pragmatism. It was at the height of the euro crisis. The ESM – and its predecessor, the EFSF - had to be put in place rapidly, to defend the monetary union. This shows that good things happen in Europe during periods of ambition, as well as during periods of realism. The result is steady progress. Steady progress during the seven decades it took to build the house that we now call the European Union.

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