On the one hand, accountability should be assigned to national parliaments for decisions that are fully in the hands of national authorities. On the other hand, the ESM needs to be equipped with swift and credible decision-making procedures. This will never be fully possible in an intergovernmental setting that is hampered by national vetoes and operates outside the constitutional safeguards of the acquis.
In developing the ‘something new’, leaders need to adopt a mature and self-aware position in order to understand how they can strike the balance in delivering for all their stakeholders and how they message this across the organisation so it will embed in the day-to-day operations of their firm.