European Banking Union: The New Regime

e-Le-Europe se fera par la monnaie ou ne se fera pase- [Europe will be made by currency or it will not be made], warned economist Jacques Rueff as long ago as 1949 e’ a prophetic remark that has become highly salient since the financial meltdown of 2008 severely threatened the European integration project. The depredations of the crisis quickly led to the development of the European Banking Union, with the goal of recapitalizing or otherwise resolving troubled banks in ways that minimize taxpayer cost and systemic risk. The bulk of the new institution, which contemplates a single supervisory system and a single recovery and resolution mechanism for troubled banks, is now established under European legislation.