The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was created through the Maastricht Treaty (1993) which, in turn, was a consequence of the major changes brought about by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, German reunification, the collapse of the USSR and the collapse of the communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. Under French pressure, Germany agreed at Maastricht to convert the framework into the euro and the Bundesbank into the European Central Bank. The instructions of an economic union was set up, but it was agreed that taxation would remain in the hands of the member states, while political union was left for the indefinite future.

The current sovereign debt crisis in Europe has revealed major flaws in the founding architecture of EMU. committee According to J.M. González Páramo, a former member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, all efforts are now aimed at remedying those original sins through a set of actions along five tracks: creating stronger fiscal governance, setting up new financial rescue mechanisms, establishing a new supervisory system, improving competitiveness and perfecting the European Central Bank's monetary policy. These paths are inspired by a document, published in mid-2011 by the European Commission, on the need for a new economic governance, based on three pillars: stronger supervision, ensuring the stability of the eurozone and restoring the financial sector.

The EMU appeared in 1999, while the great economic and financial crisis began in 2007. All indications are that the constitution of a strengthened EMU may be achieved in the near future, precisely because of the compelling pressures of the crisis or, if you will, of the markets. It is hoped that the second attempt will prove to be the good one, as was the case with the creation of the common market (1957-1973), which also needed a second round to become a true European internal market (1992). And the same should happen with the attempts at institutional crowning of the European Union, since the current Treaty of Lisbon (in force since 2009) is only a first attempt that is already judged by all as inadequate and insufficient and, therefore, in need of a thorough revision that brings us closer to a better organized Europe, more federal in nature and with the potential to play a role as a global player.

It is already clear that destiny always comes knocking twice in the major milestones of the process of European construction, in which ups and downs (periods of Euro-optimism and Euro-pessimism) and periodic crises abound. The strong onslaught of the current economic crisis of sovereign debt in the euro zone makes it urgent to overcome the shortcomings of Maastricht and create a reinforced EMU. The alternative is the disappearance of the euro and, with it, the failure of the European integration process of the last fifty years.