Instead, periods of ambitious progress were followed by periods of setbacks. So, there is reason to believe that the undeniably difficult current situation for future European integration is itself creating the seeds for renewed initiatives and integration efforts. At least, this is what history in Europe teaches us. But one thing is crystal clear.
The visible tensions about the European constitution and the financing of the European Union by no means hamper the proper functioning of EMU. It is becoming more and more necessary to re-emphasise this point since some observers have argued to the contrary and doubted the sustainability of the current institutional framework for common monetary policy.