Financial Reforms Empower EU

The euro crisis scared European Union members enough that they have finally put aside national interests to push through Europe-wide financial reforms. In doing so, they are handing more power over to Brussels.

Austrian Finance Minister Josef Pröll felt tired but jubilant when he returned to his hotel on Place Jourdan in Brussels late last Monday evening. For hours on end, he and his European counterparts had been given a detailed presentation by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and his task force on how the shaky monetary union could be stabilized and crisis-ridden Europe could be put back into shape.