This book traces the historical foundations of the Euro and the ECB, examining the political and economic forces behind EMU. It analyses how successive crises exposed EMU flaws, expanded the ECB’s role, and drove deeper economic governance and institutional adaptation in the EU.

The monetary dimension has persistently driven the European project: first steering leaders toward deeper integration with the creation of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the single currency, then revealing the EMU’s own structural flaws during the Eurozone crisis, and, ultimately, consolidating the European Central Bank (ECB) role as a central actor in managing crises and safeguarding economic stability in the European Union. In this context, this book examines the political and economic factors that led to the creation of the EMU by tracing the historical foundations of the Euro and the ECB. It then explores how the ECB’s responses to successive crises have served as catalysts for deeper economic governance and institutional adaptation. These multiple crises have also contributed to the gradual expansion of the ECB’s discretionary powers, calling for renewed reflection on the limits of this unique, supposedly technocratic institution.