In the sixty-six years since the end of World War II, a model of European integration has developed which is – for the first time – neither based on strategic alliances nor on involuntary association.
The connections between countries have become closer and closer over the years, even though this process has not been linear but has had its ups and downs, its “speed-ups and slow-downs” so to say. Every setback, however, was typically  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  followed by a further leap forward.