Which of these two interpretations of the fiscal union should eventually prevail? I would say both. Europe is a unique construct that needs to find its own balance between the roles of the euro area and national fiscal responsibilities.
Economic union The genuine completion of banking and fiscal unions would ensure that the union and its members are better able than they are now to withstand a wide variety of shocks: cyclical shocks, exogenous asymmetric shocks, as well as, if need be, shocks arising from the banking system. There exists, however, a final category of shocks to which monetary union must be impervious.