One institution, the monetary system, was imposed on a collective group of sovereign nations. While all of the involved nations fell under the blanket term of 'capitalism', the specific policies and institutions all varied in very noticeable ways. As a collective, the Eurozone created institutions such as the European Central Bank, which was an attempt to create an institution at a higher level than those in individual countries. However, the actions of the European Central Bank were divisive and often clashed with decision-making in individual countries. Agreements made at the beginning of the pact were periodically ignored, making the pact weak and almost worthless, at a power level far below the leadership in individual countries. This shows the difficulty of creating effective institutions between sovereign nations, since the resulting higher-level institutions are only vehicles of compromise, and are often ignored by the leadership in the lower-level institutions and rendered useless.
Another inherent problem with the Euro was the fact that it tied many separate economies, many of which were operating on different levels. While the economies in Western Europe were robust, the economies in Eastern and Southern Europe often lagged behind. Putting them on the same currency prevented individual countries from controlling their own monetary policy, which is a basic and critical economic institution. Consequently, the Euro was valued too highly for the struggling economies and too lowly for the strong economies. It made the debt of struggling countries, including the countries currently in crisis of Greece, Spain, and Italy, look more attractive due to their presence in the Eurozone.
