How should one imagine the planned EU banking union? Will there be one or several united or merged banks in Europe forming a genuine union? Definitely not. Banking union means something different, namely the building and operating of an integrated banking system, such as the one that exists in the USA. If a local bank in a US state experiences huge losses and/or becomes insolvent – i.e. it cannot refund its depositors –, in the process threatening the entire banking system, it is a natural occurrence there for federal institutions to intervene.

Remember the famous saying of George Soros, the Hungarian-American billionaire? He once said during the euro crisis that the euro is an “omelette”. He meant that even if the common currency area has a number of systemic flaws that have been revealed during the crisis, it is hard or even impossible to abandon the euro and for members to return to their respective national currencies. Now it seems that Europe as a whole will stay with this omelette, and will not try to put the eggs back in their shells.