At present, the democratically taken decisions in the euro area countries have told us that a single currency was necessary, but not a fully fledged political federation. But as I have already said, the Stability and Growth Pact contains far-reaching rules for national fiscal policies.
That is very important if one considers that the desire to be able to decide over fiscal  2  BIS Review 2/2008  burdens and taxation was to some extent the midwife of political democracies.