Special edition on constructing Banking Union: Introduction

European Banking Union arguably represents the most important step in European economic integration since the launch of Monetary Union. Little wonder, then, that this major deepening of integration sparked a lively academic debate and triggered an ever-growing number of publications from different disciplinary backgrounds. The first wave of publications on European Banking Union (BU) provided us with overviews on the legal changes; they discussed at length the economic rationale underpinning BU; and they traced the political dynamics of establishing BU discussing key explanatory factors. This literature reflected BU’s foundational phase between 2012 and 2014 when the major texts enshrining BU in law were negotiated and adopted. This special issue is located at the intersection of this first phase and a second stage of research covering different topics as regards to the functioning of BU. New research questions are triggered by the — so far still limited — experiences regarding BU’s implementation and current operation. Based on this empirical evidence, contributions to this second wave of BU-related research try to identify potentially dangerous lacunae and design faults, contributing to the ongoing reform debates. Taken together, the contributions to this special issue provide us with a nuanced picture of Banking Union’s construction problems, lacunae, and governance structure design faults. Banking Union resembles an unfinished cathedral. Given its problematic architecture, there remain important stability risks.