Otherwise there is a risk of conflicts, because large debts in some countries will attract the savings of the euro area as a whole, and contribute to higher interest rates for everyone. Fiscal policy, however, will largely remain a national responsibility. That is why it is so important that the Growth and Stability Pact should prove to be effective in the future.
How can the euro function against this background? The “classical” answer of the Werner Group in the early seventies (of which I was a member at the time) was: Europe must set up a political union parallel to the monetary union. Thus, supranational political structures were supposed to ensure that Europe met the requirements of a supranational currency. Maastricht adopted a different approach.