The European Union is planning a major overhaul of its institutional structure and the way it is supposed to function in the future. The envisaged reform includes the further strengthening of the EU's diplomatic service, the creation of a pan-European foreign ministry and even plans to create a European army. While these foreign policy proposals seem like adding to the core reforms the eurozone crisis has made necessary, there are also new plans involved that could help the currency union become more sustainable in the future.
Chief among them is the introduction of a eurozone parliament, a parliamentary sub-chamber of MEPs coming from eurozone countries. This is an idea I have been putting forward in publications and talks since February this year and it is great to find it in actual reform proposals. Why do we need another parliament, you might ask? Let me make the case in a bit more detail. My idea rests on three pillars: the necessity to democratise the eurozone, ideas for an "English grand committee" and the need to create a "federal" budget to have potentially more means to balance asymmetric shocks. Let me explain these three elements in turn.
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