But, fiscal and economic policies continue to be a national matter, albeit subject to coordination rules. As I have already mentioned, this asymmetry can give rise to instability.
If the consequences of an unsustainable national economic policy can be shifted onto others – for example, through bail-outs or via the conduit of a common central bank balance sheet – incentives for prudent policymaking will be stunted. Still, hopes were high that, with sufficient safeguards in place, an asymmetrically integrated euro area could prove to be stable as well.