The Euro is only ten years old, but with the current crisis it is truly coming of age. Today I will discuss the main accomplishments of European Monetary Union, and I will then elaborate on the challenges faced by the euro area, both within the current conjuncture, and from a longer-term perspective.
Furthermore, the vast international literature on economic and financial crises has identified many cases, with the causes and consequences of these episodes much debated (Kelly 2007, Reinhart and Rogoff 2009, Laeven and Valencia 2013). A primary lesson from the literature is that crises can emerge for many reasons.