The European Monetary Union in 2022

Therefore, European integration and European unity must be elevated to a new level. A dissolution of the euro would work exactly in the opposite direction, it would weaken Europe in many different areas. A renationalization of currencies would imply a return to more particular policies. Hardly an answer to today’s global challenges. And the political repercussions are often overlooked. Do we really want to put at risk the advances of integration like the free flow of capital, goods, and people or the path towards common foreign and security policies in Europe? Does it make sense to nudge the Nato-member Greece towards exit from the eurozone in a political situation with enormous instability in the Arabic region and growing competition with Turkey and Russia in southeast Europe? The euro is not the raison d'être of Europe, but it is the most important symbol and facet of the deepness of integration. Therefore, the ambition of policymakers should be to eliminate the flaws in the present institutional framework of the euro, to foster integration and unity among the EMU and the EU members. In short: to unite and not to divide the old continent. In the world we live in, European unity is the only way forward if we want to preserve our influence on the international world order, safeguarding our living standards for the coming generations.