The European Central Bank has not been matched by an equally strong central political authority

Last Updated on Wednesday, 26 October 2011 14:59 Written by The Editor Wednesday, 26 October 2011 14:44

"The European Central Bank has not been matched by an equally strong central political authority. There is no European government with sizeable fiscal resources and authority to enforce needed budgetary discipline within its member states. For all its past successes and future promises, after ten years the common European currency is still a work in process.

"Europe will need to choose - it is in the process of choosing - whether, in fact, it will sustain progress towards a more integrated European economy, characterised by both a common currency maintained by a strong central bank and by a more cohesive European government."

- Paul Volcker, Chairman of the Federal Reserve under United States Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan from August 1979 to August 1987.