Clearly, the euro area also needs solidarity mechanisms for extreme events that are out of reach of national policies – that is the role of the European Stability Mechanism. And I see scope for common projects with a common funding if they enhance the resilience of the single currency area and come with appropriate democratic control.
The third stage has been the ongoing European sovereign debt crisis, which became visible to the whole world in Greece in May 2010. It was initially perceived as a problem of what is known as the “euro-area periphery”. Now, in the fourth stage of the financial crisis, however, it is no longer limited to these countries.