Rather than arguing about whether it is more important to widen or to deepen the union, I have made the case today that any expansion of the euro area must be accompanied by measures to deepen it, both politically and economically. Deepening EMU also hinges on the ambition of national governments in the Council.
We have the concepts for how to deepen the union, but we also need the political will to implement them.12 Parliaments have a critical role to play. The European Parliament and national parliaments can drive forward legislative integration. They can look out for spillovers from national policies to the rest of the euro area.