The EU has embarked on a special method for drafting the new Constitution. As you know, over the last one and a half years representatives from national and European institutions discussed in the Convention what Europe’s new Constitution should look like. The ECB has followed these debates with great interest. It welcomes the draft Constitution as presented by the Convention in June.
However, as central bankers, we had to learn a new lesson. For the first time since the setting up of the ERM in 1979, a major reform of the EU takes place without monetary integration being in the limelight. The reason is simple: as far as monetary integration is concerned the EU has reached a “sustainable endpoint”.