Stars aligned for euro overhaul, EU reboot

Brussels

WHEN France elected Emmanuel Macron in May, the prospects of mending the euro's inherent flaws suddenly brightened. Adopted in 1999, the common European currency was intended as a political project to foster unity, but the crisis in Greece a decade later exposed the euro's inability to enforce shared rules, principally on government debt and spending.

The French president is pushing for greater fiscal integration among the 19 nations that now use the euro as a way to address at least some of those shortcomings. With Germany indicating an openness to Mr Macron's calls, the political stars may be aligning to overhaul the euro, and so reboot the European Union.