The European credit crisis is as political as it is complicated. This breeds solutions in search of the problem. One of these is the ubiquitous idea that the euro’s woes can only be settled by fiscal union; the more rigid the better and no room for backsliding. The broad popularity of this idea is based around its appeal to those who have a preference for whips and chains and includes both Europhiles and Europhobes. Europhiles see fiscal union as part of a wider project in which monetary union is merely part and not an end in itself. Problems with monetary union, argue the Europhiles, are self-evidently the result of ... (full story)