L'Europe – these are the words of Schuman – ne se fera pas d'un coup, ni dans une construction d'ensemble. Elle se fera par des réalisations concrètes, créant d'abord une solidarité de fait. Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements, which create a de facto solidarity.
How the euro contributes to this solidarity – perhaps more than any other achievement so far – is what I'd like to reflect on first of all. A social contract What is money? Economists know that money is defined by the functions it performs, as a means of exchange, a unit of account and a store of value.