BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  If countries do not have effective structural policies, and so permanently diverge in terms of unemployment and growth, then questions start to be asked about their membership of the Union. And such questions do not affect only them.
As we have seen on several occasions over the last few years, they create self-fulfilling fragmentation with repercussions for the other countries in the Union. Hence, what happens within each one is not just a national interest, it is a collective interest. Every member of the euro area has a vital interest in ensuring that its partners are continuously meeting the membership requirements.