Prof. Roland Vaubel:

Wolfgang Schäuble, the German minister of finance, has told the New York Times: “We can only achieve political union if we have a crisis” (18 November, 2011). He wants to exploit the sovereign debt crisis to confer additional competencies on the European Union and build new European institutions. He started with the temporary bail-out fund EFSF, he then managed to perpetuate it in the shape of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), and he now pushes for a “Single Supervisory Mechanism” under the roof of the European Central Bank (ECB). After that, he intends to establish a European Rescue and Resolution Mechanism at the ESM. Other mechanisms are likely to follow if he stays in office.

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