I often joke that, for a sense of shared purposes to be built-up in the euro area and to fully remove uncertainty in the eyes of interested external partners and observers, perhaps it would have been better to have a “single army” before adopting a “single currency”….
In deciding on what should and should not be discussed on a European level, the principle of subsidiarity should continue to play a guiding role. What can be decided at a lower level should be decided at a lower level. I do not close my eyes to the existence of substantial obstacles to further integration in this broad sense.