Challenges facing European Monetary Union

While past discussions on EMU tended to emphasise its role in limiting the impact of the global financial crisis on the euro area countries, the focus has now shifted to the destabilising effects threatening the entire euro zone as a consequence of the dire fiscal situation in some weaker member countries, notably Greece. Will the EMU be able to pass the first serious challenge it faces or is it a fair-weather construction with basic design flaws? What options are available to policymakers?