A chosen economic policy regime must be judged against the background of historical developments, traditions and its specific regional environment. Naturally, the asymmetry between centralized monetary policymaking and decentralized economic and fiscal policy generates a certain tension. The way to overcome this state of tension is to closely coordinate decentralized economic and fiscal policy at the European level.
Fiscal policy in the member states is additionally required by the Stability and Growth Pact to achieve the medium-term goal of a budget that is close to balance or even in surplus. One rationale for the Stability Pact was that it would be asking too much of a single monetary policy to be the sole defender of stability.