It is only by demonstrating a willingness to fulfil their commitments that Member States can achieve the degree of mutual trust that is a pre-requisite of integration in other areas. Indeed, any pooling of sovereignty requires a great amount of mutual confidence, in particular in the fiscal area, which is traditionally seen as a prerogative of national parliaments.
Structural policies within a monetary union This same reasoning that I am applying to the fiscal framework can, to a large extent, be extended to other areas of economic policy. In particular, I think there is a case for some form of common governance over structural reforms.