Monetary Union and European Integration

Economic and monetary union is often discussed as though it is an economic and monetary project with important political side effects. This is a profound misunderstanding. The project for economic and monetary union, like every other important innovation in the history of the European Community, is essentially a political undertaking, of which the economic and monetary aspects are the practical expression. Indeed the entire enterprise of European integration is, and has always been, essentially a political enterprise. Many or even most of the manifestations of European integration are economic; but they cannot be understood, and they would not have been undertaken, except as part of a broader political enterprise. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.