The European crisis: testing the trust foundations of an economic and monetary union

This chapter explores the trust foundations of he European and Monetary Union (EMU) and, more generally, of the European Union. It argues that the prevailing interpretations of how EMU was agreed upon and is managed - that is, by pursuing the maximization of the national interest subject to the constraint of every other member state trying to do the same - has created a situation of "conditional and guarded trust" which is not conducive to the cooperation which would be needed in order to make the EMU work. The crisis exposed the insufficiency of the trust foundations of EMU and the measures taken to counter are risking to deplete it even further. The switch to a notion of "shared and responsible sovereignty" is as necessary as far from sight.