European financial integration: Monetary union, banking union, capital markets union

Abstract

Since the Treaties of Rome were concluded in 1957, the history of Europe has been marked by an ever-deepening integration. To some degree this process has certainly been driven by the idea that in a globalised world only a united and strong Europe can succeed. In 1954, Jean Monnet, one of the founding fathers of the European Union, said: “Our countries have become too small for today’s world, when compared to the potential of modern technical means and in relation to the dimension of America and Russia today, China and India tomorrow [1]”. In that sense, European integration and also the introduction of the euro could be interpreted as a response to globalisation-as an attempt to create a strong regional pole in an increasingly multipolar world.