This week I talked to an audience consisting mainly of young Europeans in an ancient and delightful Dutch city that is becoming a little worried about its place in the history books. It's called Maastricht. Looking back over the story of how the Maastricht treaty that led to today's eurozone was negotiated, I find a vital lesson. The framework of Europe's economic policies has changed fundamentally over the past 20 years, but the way in which those policies are arrived at has not. Now, as then, the crucial deals are thrashed out between a few key national leaders, and their advisers, in negotiations behind closed doors, often over good food and wine.
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