ABSTRACT
In the run-up to and early years of economic and monetary union (EMU) the literature in political science focused on the making of EMU, especially the negotiations on the Treaty on European Union (TEU), the institutional setup of EMU and the European Central Bank (ECB), member states’ adaptation to EMU, and so on. So far, very limited attention has been devoted by political scientists to the less ‘fashionable’ parts of EMU: first and foremost, the ‘plumbing’ of the single currency, that is the payment services and the clearing and settlement of securities. These policy areas are usually regarded as the ‘Cinderellas’ of EMU because they are perceived as less important in terms of their overall contribution to the functioning of the single currency and as less politically salient, owing to their largely technical content.
