5 Developing monetary union 5/8  BIS central bankers' speeches  The institutional architecture of monetary union likewise needs to be overhauled. Setting up the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) has rendered the euro area more resilient to crises. However, it would be a mistake to believe that the euro area is now equipped to deal with all eventualities.
In that respect, I was pleased to see the debate on the future of monetary union gain renewed traction last year. In a speech he gave in September, the French President Emmanuel Macron proposed, for instance, communitising more policy areas such as defence, immigration and climate protection. In other words, he advocates taking joint decisions in these policy areas and financing them jointly.