Tommaso himself later argued in his “inconsistent quartet” that free trade, free capital movement, fixed exchange rates and independent monetary policies were ultimately incompatible. And the euro itself has had consequences. Some of these were identified early, in particular with respect to fiscal governance. Some were fully acknowledged only later, such as the pervasive effects of macroeconomic imbalances.
But in both cases, the crisis showed that the cohesion of the Union in fact relied on the behaviour of each of its members. This is why I believe that the case for community-level governance does not apply only to fiscal policy, or to the banking union, but also to structural reforms, as I will endeavour to explain.