I don't think it is inevitable, Wolfgang. For one thing, if we don't enter within the next few years (say 5), I don't think there'll be a common European currency to join. One function that sliding exchange rates perform is that of a safety-valve. If different countries' exchange rates are locked together, that self-correcting effect is lost. So Germany, now, is pressing the ECB for lower interest rates while Ireland needs higher rates to cool off its inflation. (Irish house prices, I heard, are 30% more than UK equivalents at the moment; don't know if that's true). Give it time, my son, and the sort of public dissatisfaction that was expressed in riots in Gothenburg will bring down governments and destroy the common currency. Sorry to sound like a Jeremiah: please note that my predicting and my wanting public unrest are different things.

As to your longer quotation from Chancellor Schröder, I think that though he talks the democratic talk yet he walks the federalist walk. I don't claim to hang on every word he speaks, but if he is pressing for greater European democracy and accountability, I missed it.