EMU is functioning. Yet the challenges remain great, and the ECB still has to pass the real acid test. At a certain distance in time from the launch of the ECB and from the transition to Stage Three of EMU in Europe, the sheer dimensions of the project must be called to mind once again.
First of all, the political dimension of EMU: The highest degree of monetary integration was reached in the shape of monetary union. The member states of the euro area have agreed to share a common fate. There is no way back. In other words, EMU is “doomed to success”.