* * * Recent political developments in the United States and the United Kingdom have been interpreted as reflecting widespread concerns about globalisation as well as scepticism about international cooperation1. Many Europeans also regard the responses to cross-border challenges such as economic fragilities, migration and terrorism as unsatisfactory. A broad debate is under way about the European Union’s raison d’être and its future.
Over the past few years, currency in circulation in the euro area has hit doubledigit annual growth rates and thus increased much more than the quantitative models based on economic growth and the rise in cashless payments led us to expect.