The European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is a unique case of monetary integration and its construction has never been easy or consensual. From the outset, the EMU was criticised, and several voices – especially from the other side of the Atlantic – predicted a short life for the euro.
I would say that the birth of the European single currency project was accompanied by “two fairy godmothers” with negative omens for its future: 1. The theory of optimal currency areas2(OCA), including the criteria deemed necessary for a region to qualify as an OCA and benefit from a common currency; 2.