For the latter, external positions on the whole have been balanced all throughout its existence (since 1999), and monetary stability has been successfully maintained. Economic growth has been relatively modest, however, and catching up to the US in per capita income has basically halted.
Reliance on rules would be less of a problem if ‘market discipline’ could be trusted to keep the finances of the Member States on the narrow path of sustainability. By market discipline we mean the constraints that market perceptions of a country’s creditworthiness puts on its borrowing.