. history teaches us that european integration has been most successful when it was based on the community method, not intergovernmentalism. this is because it allows all member states to commonly share sovereignty in a democratic, transparent and inclusive manner. speaking as a central banker of a genuinely european, you might even say federal institution, let me elaborate further on this institutional point. we should avoid entertaining the illusion that competences have been effectively transferred to the european level, even if this may be de jure the case, when they are still largely de facto controlled at the national level. this risks creating confusion among citizens who are legitimately asking for effective policies that address their needs. on the contrary, if we want to progress along the path of further european integration, there needs to be alignment of sovereignty and responsibility on the one hand and legitimacy and accountability on the other hand. in other words, where competences are given to the european level, they should be part of the union framework, with clear institutional independence, 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches instruments to accomplish the responsibilities transferred, full democratic accountability and judicial control. for me, the single monetary policy framework put in place and enacted in the eu treaties provides a fine example to that effect. europe seems less effective in areas were competencies are shared between the union and the national level, even in cases where the union is imposing a rule - based framework. europe is even less effective in areas where the intergovernmental approach is indefinitely preferred over the union method. financial and economic priorities let me be more concrete now on what i consider to be the emu deepening priorities : financial union : completing the capital markets union ( cmu ) and banking union should be among our top priorities. they are each other ’ s natural complements. both a genuine cmu and a true banking union not just support a homogenous and smooth transmission of the ecb ’ s monetary policy measures, but they ensure that savings are allocated in the most efficient way to productive use in the form of investment across the area, regardless of their national location. in creating an ever more robust financial integration, we will facilitate private risk - sharing which will help to make our economy more resilient to shocks and we will become less reliant on public risk sharing to do this job. in particular banking union must not be left unfinished, given the importance of the banking sector in the financing of the euro area economy. a single currency for all euro area citizens needs

yves mersch : economic and financial priorities for relaunching the eurozone and the eu speech by mr yves mersch, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the eurofi financial forum, tallinn, 14 september 2017. * * * a window of opportunity half a year ago, newspapers across the continent and beyond were brimming with stories about euroscepticism. by now, and contrary to these stories, we have seen that pro - european policies can garner political support. the latest eurobarometer survey shows that euroscepticism is receding and that trust in the eu and the euro continue to increase. at the same time, the economic and financial situation in the euro area has improved considerably in the last years : since early 2015, euro area gdp growth has been solid in every quarter with an average of 1. 9 % in annualised terms ; more than six million jobs have been created since the recovery began in the last quarter of 2013 ; employment has surpassed its precrisis peak of early 2008. nevertheless, there is still considerable slack in a number of euro area countries which are burdened with high unemployment. stock imbalances also remain in other areas, such as the level of npls in the euro area banking sector, or the large negative net international investment positions in countries that in the years prior to the crisis were running high current account deficits. thus, there is a clear need for further action. the favourable economic as well as political environment present a unique window of opportunity to fix the shortcomings of our economic and monetary union and relaunch the eurozone – as the title of this session suggests. the june 2015 five presidents ’ report presented the outline of a roadmap to that effect ; the european commission ’ s reflection paper on the deepening of emu further developed the contours of a roadmap. before going into the specifics, let me make a few more general remarks. learning from history – strengthening the union let us not forget that the eu is a union of member states but it also has to be a union of european citizens. their elected representatives at the european level and the union institutions should drive the agenda on the future of the eu, not a few member states. as much as i welcome a franco - german initiative to revive the debate on emu deepening, this should not become an alternative or parallel process that might come at the expense of other, in particular smaller member states