Finally, at the institutional level, there is the tension between the nation state and supra-national bodies that partly stems from the fact that the euro area is a monetary union which is not under-pinned by a common Treasury. These tensions are reflected in the rise of political movements and parties that oppose and want to reverse the admittedly complex and difficult process of European integration that emerged from the ashes of the Second World War, and threaten the single currency itself. These tensions are the source of the governance issues that EMU faces and which still have to be resolved. I would like to examine three aspects of EMU in turn: monetary policy, fiscal policy and economic integration. I believe that as far as the monetary dimension of EMU is concerned, many issues have been settled. The Governing Council of the ECB pursues a clear mandate to maintain price stability, defined as a rate of inflation below but close to 2%, and it has consistently run monetary policy in pursuit of this goal. However, monetary policy is facing the constraints of operating at the zero interest rate bound. An institutional set-up that was designed to fight inflation has had to react to an unprecedented situation characterised by the absence of inflationary pressures. In my view, some design features – such as the asymmetric response to deviations from the ECB’s target – ought to be reviewed. On the fiscal front, compliance with the existing governance framework has fallen far short of the original expectations.
In sum, we are still far from completing the steps envisaged in the first phase of the Five Presidents’ roadmap. Achieving and maintaining responsible fiscal policies at national and euro area level still  3  seems beyond our grasp and while certain elements of the Banking Union are now in place, more needs to be done. Overall, the timetable is ambitious. We must also be realistic and admit that further integration is running against headwinds of popular discontent with integration and liberalisation. We need, therefore to be more open about what we are doing, to fully engage all our citizens and to build a case for a stronger EMU that can enjoy broad popular consensus rather than being imposed from above. 4