And a new “fiscal compact” foresees enshrining member states’ commitment to budget balance – and to reducing public debt to within 60% of GDP in 20 years – in their constitutions. But any assessment of European economic governance must acknowledge the slow, contradictory nature of intergovernmental decision-making, in which a misconceived notion of national interest, together with upsurges in popular anti-EU sentiment and electoral pressure, has led to a stop-and-go process, punctuated by financial-market swoons.