Summary
EU financial reforms have been without ambition at the beginning. With the
emergence of the Greek crisis, there was a certain adjustment, and stricter reforms
were envisaged. But the complex nature of EU governance structures together with
strong national interest and the influence of the finance lobby make reforms
inefficient, too slow and too late. The only modus of operandi of the EU is therefore
slow and incremental change. In addition, the sovereign debt crisis, which is closely
interlinked it the crisis of the finance system, makes reforms even more difficult. As a
supra-national state in the making, the EU is not strong and flexible enough to
manage extraordinary crises. This is why muddling through can be expected to
continue until something dramatic happens. more