The European Union Review 

L’Euro: de l’Europe Economique à l’Europe Politique

Pierre Maillet - Université de Lille I, France

Amid the profusion of articles currently attempting to assess the Euro’s impact, two schools of thought dominate: - according to the first, with the Euro, the programme for European economic integration has ended: this is the crowing achievement after forty years of endeavour; - according to the second, political integration, which, to date, has barely commenced, becomes both more necessary and finally feasible; it represents a new start. Readers will then ask themselves: is the glass of European integration brimming or is it still nearly empty? The viewpoint we shall develop below is that both assessments are, to a large extent, accurate, because we are dealing, in the same way as with grand dinners, with two separate glasses: a complementarity much appreciated by gourmets. One is nearly full, yet not quite, while the other needs filling. These two points of view shall be developed below. But each dinner guest can prefer one glass or the other. Indeed, by restricting use to only one glass, the choice is for the formula of a differentiated Europe, a subject we shall deal with in the third chapter.