If Member States were to discuss a fiscal union while their economic strengths are as different as they are now, the debate would in fact be about creating new fiscal transfers, and our monetary union is not a transfer union. Second, any new set of rules should build on the existing ones. They should be enforced fully. It is a question of mutual trust.
The risks surrounding global economic prospects relate primarily to the evolution of oil prices, the pace of expansion in China, the way in which current account imbalances in the United States and East Asia will be resolved, and geopolitical developments. BIS Review 61/2004  1