Since the Treaty of Rome in 1957, the founding members of the European Union and those that joined the project along the way have sought to bring about a monetary and economic union.
There are of course both political and cultural differences between the different members, and this has presented the European governing bodies with many challenges. In 2001, a large cohort of the countries moved to a single currency, a move many felt showed that Europe was indeed progressing towards its ultimate aim of a monetary union.
When the financial crisis started in 2007, it became apparent that there was an inconsistent approach to banking regulation across the member states. The weakness of some financial institutions forced governments to step in to recapitalize them to prevent a public loss of confidence in the banking system. This then saw the national governments take on considerable debt and risk default by the sovereign on its bonds. The extent of the problem was so great that, at one stage, the market began to doubt if the common currency would survive.
