Distrust leads to disaccord; in the exasperated pursuit of mutual reassurance, looking only to short term gain, the necessary steps are hard to take. Moving forward on the basis of a series of compromises is becoming more difficult. European unity is achieved with the development of democratic institutions appointed to manage shared sovereignty.
During the crisis the task of safeguarding the stability of the euro area fell almost entirely to monetary policy, owing to the persistent fragility of the other elements of the institutional framework, which were only belatedly and insufficiently rectified.